The Hummel Quest
by autophagy
Summary: An epic story of suspense, betrayal, team kill, fear, and friendship in a dystopian World of Tanks alternate universe. Some chapters will be really short, others really long, depending on the content. (And yes, the tanks are sentient. Shh, don't ask how or why, just enjoy.)
1. Noob

[Highway.]

The Leichttraktor didn't know why he woke up alone one day. His team had just disappeared. Well, actually he _did_ know. But who needed those elitist idiots anyway? They could go and flaunt their victories around all they wanted, somewhere else. He wasn't a very strong tank, and he couldn't help it, so why make a big deal of it? All the others had advanced and upgraded to stronger tiers, while he was still his good old tier 1 self.

There were other, more important things to do for a Leichttraktor of his caliber. For example….Okay. Admittedly, he felt pretty lonely. And he actually might have been following their tracks – and he actually might have lost them.

He wasn't going at full speed, since it made little sense. If he was going into the completely wrong direction, he would only be going nowhere faster. The hope to find them again had decreased with every day he had been driving through landscape after landscape blindly. He knew where they were headed, but how was he supposed to find his way?

His only luck was that he hadn't run into any enemy teams yet. The idea to ask them for directions was a silly one that kept him amused and distracted for a while. Almost too distracted.

The Leichttraktor came to a screeching halt as the road ahead of him suddenly _exploded_.

His turret swung around in search of an attacker, but he couldn't see anyone. Quickly he accelerated backwards in hope of evading the next shot that surely was about to follow. The strength of that explosion…that must have been a heavy at least…!

He felt his engine thrumming behind his armor in fear. There was no way he could defeat a heavy! Anxiously, he kept accelerating until he reached a rock and drove behind it quickly.

However, he neither heard the sound of tracks, nor did another shot follow. How strange! Had his attacker lost interest because he was just a little Leichttraktor, barely worth the shells that a tank of a higher tier could shoot at him?

But then, he _did_ hear something. It sounded like rattling, but not the kind of rattling sound that tank treads would produce. What in the world…?

Now full of curiousity, he tentatively inched out of his cover a little to get a look and hopefully spot what had fired at him this time. There was an outcry of some sort, and a second detonation right in front of the rock let debris fly around the Leichttraktor's turret.

He cursed and quickly reversed back into his hiding place.

Was that other guy possibly just as scared as he was?


	2. Awol

Oh dear. Oh boy. This was the end. That tank behind that rock over there….must have been a tier 6 _at least_. The Wespe shook on his suspension, aiming at the rock frantically while waiting for his gun to reload. He was as good as dead. Maybe he should have never run away from his team. What an awful idea! …But he probably would have died there as well.

_It was raining fire. The Wespe backed up, and backed up, but found himself with his back against a wall as the red squares on his map closed in. One of their VK 36s intercepted, stalling their advance as he fired a round at the spearhead of the enemy attack, destroying the medium with one shot. The Wespe tried to focus on his sights as he aimed for the moving enemies, but his barrel shook too bad. The VK 36 was suddenly in flames, two lights taking his place but losing health fast under the onslaught of enemy forces. There was a distressed comm from his sister, a Pershing, but the Wespe could barely make out any of the words as an enemy Luchs broke through, sprinting towards the Wespe's position. The allied artillery right next to him died under a hail of bullets, and that was when the Wespe's treads gained a life of their own. He turned around as fast as he could and sped down the nearest hill, the Luchs pursuing but not getting a clear shot yet. Shells whistled left and right of the Wespe's armor, one of them hitting him in the back but not slowing him down in the least._

_He drove as fast and as far as he could and didn't look back._

The bad memories of the enemy tanks rushing into their base and taking apart the heavies like they were made of paper distracted the Wespe just long enough to not right away notice the other tank sticking his turret out of the cover once again.

It was…a Leichttraktor? They…they weren't really dangerous, right? The tiny gun barrel of the other tank was turning hastily from one side to the other, still looking for the source of the fire. Damn, why couldn't he just hit anything for once? Sometimes, the Wespe hated his gun for being as inaccurate as it was. Maybe it was time for another plan…

"G-Go away!" he tried to shout, but it came out more like a chirp.

A laugh could be heard, and before the Wespe knew he was suddenly bumped into. How- he was hidden so well behind a bush!

"Hey, Ma'am, why are you scared? I'm just a tier 1!"

The Wespe resisted the urge to fire from surprise and it took a moment until the other's words had sunken in.

"_Ma'am?_" he echoed, voice shrill with disbelief. "I ain't a Ma'am!"

There was an awkward silence. "…a Sir? Huh. That's unusual." the Leichttraktor mused, befuddled.

The Wespe's engine howled with indignation and he considered turning around and driving away. "W-Who are you anyway?" he asked instead. Even if this stranger seemed to be a dork, he indeed didn't look dangerous, and that was good. A weak tank and a SPG were already better than a SPG and no tank.

Grinning a tank-grin, the Leichttraktor turned his turret slightly, gun awry.

"They call me Noob. You?" he responded cheerfully. Apparently he was happy too to meet someone who wasn't trying to kill him.

"I'm….Awol."

That wasn't his real name, but he felt that it suited him better than his old one. After all, that's what he was now.

"Nice to meet you, Awol!" Noob didn't seem stumped by the name at all. The Wespe gave him a sheepish smile. The other tank returned it, and went on.

"Why are you traveling alone? Isn't that dangerous for artillery? Where's your team?"

The Leichttraktor was rocking back and forth on his tracks, obviously enjoying the conversation but also seeming a little impatient for some reason. Maybe he had places to be? Awol already wanted to apologize in advance because the memory of the last battle and the shame were still too fresh to tell the whole story.

"I don't want to talk about it…" he said quietly, gun drooping. After a short pause where no one said anything, he eventually added. "Where are you going? Can I come with you, maybe?"

The response he got was a hearty laugh, and the Leichttraktor drove a little circle around him. "Of course you can! We're going to…uhm…a cool place."


	3. Arty

[Westfield.]

"Why are you camping?"

"Arty, relocate!"

"Haha!"

The sound of cannons being fired in quick succession filled the base and the air. The M5 Stuart laughed as he shot another shell at his team mate, missing only barely on purpose. Dirt flew up as the explosion formed a little crater right next to the Sturmpanzer II's treads.

"Stop that!" she hissed, moving about like a caged animal while trying to evade the fire that her team mates were directing at her. It wasn't like they even gave her a chance to escape. Another shot grazed her side armor, ricocheting but still causing a nasty dent.

"Come on! Move!" the M5 goaded, aiming his cannon barrel straight at her this time. His partner in crime, the M7, didn't shoot, knowing well that a single one of his shells could kill their team mate, but that didn't stop him from cackling gleefully as he kept blocking every possible route of escape.

It felt justified in that moment as the Sturmpanzer mimicked the M5, pointing the barrel of her gun at him. "Fine then" she growled as she fired. What she hadn't seen coming was the fact that her shell actually hit spot-on.

An explosion made the whole camp go silent, and as the smoke of the Sturmpanzer's shot had cleared away, all that was left of the M5 was a burning wreck.

At once, the other team mates swarmed the scene; everyone wanted to know what had happened. Was it an enemy attack? The Sturmpanzer gaped in horror. She knew what a team kill meant.

The M7 started shrieking, blubbering about how Arty had killed his friend for no reason. Her barrel was raised high in alarm as loud voices rose in the crowd, demanding an eye for an eye.

They didn't outright kill her, since team killing was forbidden even when the killed had been a killer, but the penalty in such a case was almost worse: Exile.

A lone artillery was as good as dead, and even if she should survive, she was dead to her team.


	4. Eject

[Himmelsdorf.]

Sometimes the T29 missed the old days. He took out a Tiger, and it was almost too easy. Fondly, he remembered the lower tier battles, when he had been inexperienced and everything had felt like a novelty. Sometimes frustrating, sometimes intoxicating. But at the moment, all he felt was monotony.

The last enemy fell, and the T29's team took all the time they needed to get back to their base.

Everyone queued up to refuel, their light tank bringing the fuel they had raided from the enemy base. Fuel was rare nowadays, which was the cause of all the fighting in the first place. Since there were no real leaders in the teams, everyone should have the same rights, but the ones who were first in line were usually the most experienced ones who performed best on the battlefield and therefore had the most respect.

"When are we continuing on?" a G.W. Panther asked. The T29 only gave her an indifferent look as he made his way to his garage spot after having received his ration. Of course the artillery hated it here. He saw her almost die on the hill earlier, as she had made a desperate attempt to climb it to get a better overview and actually be able to shoot something in the crowded area.

But the town was easier to defend than the open fields the SPGs preferred. The T29 didn't feel the need to move on. After all, he had seen most of the world already and fought so many battles that he wasn't really looking forward to wasting fuel on relocating needlessly in search of a better place.


	5. Sky

[Karelia.]

The night was dark, clouds obstructing the view of the stars. A cold wind was blowing as the team lay asleep, except for two tanks.

"I have to go" the M26 Pershing said to her partner. The Hellcat didn't look happy; he hadn't liked the idea from the very start. Ever since that one battle, M26's brother had been missing, and she wanted to find him, see if he was still alive. She felt that he still was, but there was no way of knowing for sure unless she followed that trail of tread tracks. It wasn't even for sure if she'd ever return, she could get ambushed or run into enemy territory without knowing. It could be a trap for all they knew. And probably the worst part was that he couldn't come with her. Their team needed every tank right now.

Nevertheless, she couldn't be convinced to stay. The Hellcat knew that she wasn't weak and could stand her ground, but there was something else.

"They will see you as a traitor. You might not be able to come back."

"I know. But I have to – I'm sorry."

With that, she drove off. All he could do was look after her with a churning feeling in his fuel tanks.

[Mountain Pass.]

The night had turned into day when Sky made her way through a narrow valley. She had been following her brother's tracks, always on the lookout for enemies. On her way she had almost run straight into an enemy base, but had managed to escape before the majority of the team had noticed.

The rest of the journey up until now had been quiet and peaceful….until she noticed the distinct feeling of being followed. It was like a sixth sense of sort that some tanks had, and right now hers was tingling.

Quickly, she stopped and drove behind the nearest rock, until the feeling vanished. And then she waited. It didn't take too long until she heard a tank approaching. Peeking around the corner, she saw an oblivious Sturmpanzer II on the way to drive past her. Waiting for another moment, she leaped out of her cover just before the SPG could pass her, gun barrel trained dead center on the other vehicle's flank.

The Sturmpanzer came to a screeching halt.

"Don't move" Sky said calmly. One shot and the SPG would be dead. The Sturmpanzer listened to her command, not even twitching although she could hear the other's engine rev louder.

The Pershing continued. "What are you doing here? Why are you following me? "

A couple of seconds passed.

The Sturmpanzer was about to say something, when suddenly voices could be heard.

Sky turned around, looking at the source of the noise and saw another SPG as well as a Leichttraktor approach them – they didn't even seem like they had noticed them yet.

"Are these your friends?" Sky asked harshly, but didn't realize that the Sturmpanzer couldn't even see them from her position. Nevertheless, she answered. "I don't know them" she said, not recognizing the voices.


	6. Mountain Meetup

"And then you shoot them in the _butt_!"

Noob was gesticulating wildly with his gun as he explained his superior battle tactics to his new friend. The Wespe looked mostly confused and just drove along without saying much. He wasn't really sure if all of that could be applied to him, being artillery and all. What he was wondering about most though was how familiar the scenery looked. He could have sworn that he had been here before.

Suddenly, the Leichttraktor stopped unexpectedly. It made Awol look ahead, and what he saw was terrible.

Both of them screamed in unison and rushed for cover, suspension quivering.

The Pershing wasn't completely certain what she had just witnessed. If those were supposed to be assaulters, they had to be the worst assaulters she had ever seen. As she turned back to the Sturmpanzer again, the SPG had turned around as well, - without her permission! – obviously more curious than she should be in her situation. Sky decided not to do anything about it for now. It didn't seem like the stranger was about to shoot her in the back.

"We're dead!" the Leichttraktor whispered to his friend, but Awol didn't even manage to say anything at all at first. Eventually he gulped out an almost hopeful "Do you think they've seen us?"  
"Well, **_duh_**…!" Noob whispered back. They were both hiding behind the same bush, making a good portion of their bodies stick out on either side.

"Hey, you goofs over there! I can hear you!" Sky called, and the two boys fell silent at once. The Pershing nudged the Sturmpanzer next to her, whispering, "Play along now."

Then she shouted again.

"My friend the G.W. Tiger here is aiming right at you guys right now, so you better don't try anything stupid!"  
Arty felt charmed by the over-dramatization of her tier and raised her barrel menacingly.

"A G.W. Tiger!" Awol cried out in desperation, as loud as a whisper allowed, causing him to sound hoarse.  
"A wha-" came the blissfully ignorant response, but it was cut short.

"Should I fake a shot?" the Sturmpanzer asked quietly. "Yes, do it" Sky responded; it sounded almost gleeful.  
And so she did. Missing on purpose, Arty made sure to aim far away from the actual position of the two unknown tanks. Two shrieks could be heard in response.  
"See that?" Sky announced, "That was just a warning shot! Next time she won't miss, I can guarantee that! Come out and surrender, _now!_"

"We should do what she says….!" Awol suggested, turning to look at his comrade, but said comrade was already getting into gear fast and rolled out of the bush, flattening it in the process. Now both of them were exposed and could only hope they wouldn't be killed.


	7. Reunion

Sky froze just at the same moment as Awol did. None of the other two tanks really knew what was going on as the Pershing sprinted towards her brother at once, everything around her forgotten for a moment. They became involuntary onlookers.

"It's _you!_" she said and gave him a cannon hug, "You're alive!"

He looked down on himself, positively feeling alive. "Yeah" he mumbled. He felt a small pang of conscience somewhere in his engine as he was reminded of his escape. "I'm so sorry. I ran away." He knew exactly what the punishment for desertion was. Other than exile where you were simply ignored until you left, a traitor was considered the enemy and shot on sight. The rules in the world of tanks were strict and sometimes cruel, but they were necessary to ensure their discipline and survival.

"Shut up or I'll slap you" the Pershing growled, "You shouldn't be sorry, you only did what you had to do to survive! I'd rather be the sister of a traitor than the sister of a dead tank! Now let's go home." The Wespe looked at the ground. He was happy that Sky wasn't mad, but that didn't mean that he could just return. "I don't think they'll let me go back." And after a small pause, he added, "Also I found a friend here."

"He means me!" Noob interjected, gun raised slightly in pride.

Sky gave the Leichttraktor a long, scrutinizing glance, then looked at her brother again and nodded. "I see. Maybe we don't have to go back after all. I mean, most of our team's fucking gone anyway. We might as well form our own!"

"I approve!" the Leichttraktor said, and the Wespe nodded with a smile. The Pershing turned her turret around and looked at Arty, who had been quiet the whole time. "What about you?" she asked the SPG. "Will you join us? If you don't, we'll have to kill ya, you know."

"I'll join you" the Sturmpanzer decided with her gun tilted. "But we have no base. We should go and find one, maybe there's some tier 1s somewhere near."

"Sounds like a plan" the Pershing said, "Alright boys and girls, let's get a move on, then."

As they started driving down the road, Sky shooed away the Leichttraktor from her brother to talk to him for a moment.

"So how come that we are basically still following your tracks while you turned up behind us?" she asked, making the SPG give her a blank look. So _that _was the reason why everything here looked so familiar? He threw a side glance at his new friend; Noob was driving along merrily, not listening in to the conversation and obviously dwelling on his own thoughts.  
"We must have gone round in circles" he replied thoughtfully, then shrugged. "What about your boyfriend? Is he….?"

Sky quickly waved her turret. "Oh no, he's still alive! Come on, you know him! He doesn't die that easily!" she laughed and shook her turret.  
"But then why didn't he come with you?"  
"Well, he said that he can't leave, but I'm sure he won't make it long without me. He's probably gonna try to come after us and find me soon." She had planned on returning at first, but with the situation right now that seemed off-limits. She didn't want to lose him, but her brother's safety was simply more important right now. All the Hellcat had to do to find them was follow the tread tracks, and she hoped that he would.


	8. Night Encounter

[Cliff.]

Night had fallen and the newly founded team had decided to take a break. The sky was clear and the moon full, a soft breeze making the grass and the tree leaves sway. Arty was standing guard, checking the surrounding area sporadically while they others rested. There was no one anywhere to be seen, which was good. Only some animals, but they were hardly a threat. They had chosen a spot where they were relatively covered, but still had a good overview on both directions of the road.

As the time for a change of guards had come, Sky drove over to the Sturmpanzer and poked her with her gun. The SPG flinched and was about to turn around, but the Pershing moved to her side.

"So, any ideas how we should call ourselves?" Sky asked with a faint grin in her voice. Arty just shook her gun barrel. "Not really…I'm not good with names" she responded. The medium just gave a thoughtful "Hm" in response and then fell silent for a moment.

"We'll have to find a base soon, we're all pretty fucking low on fuel" she growled then. Arty nodded her agreement, still watching the skies and the area. "There's none nearby. Not even tread tracks or anything. I don't think anyone's been here in a while" she concluded eventually. "A miracle wouldn't be too bad now. Otherwise things are looking dire."

Sky slapped her in the side with her turret. "What's with that negative talk? You stop that right now. We'll find something, I'm sure."

She earned a shrug. "It's just what I'm thinking. Is there a plan yet what we'll do if we don't make it?"

All Arty got in return was a chiding glare. She shrugged again, this time giving an apologetic tank grin; then she turned to leave and let Sky do her guard duty.

"Hey, you can stay if you want."

Arty stopped. "That would be nice" she said with a smile and returned to her previous place. She wasn't really tired, so she didn't mind staying up longer. Her travel so far hadn't been really tiring - her engine was good and gave her no trouble at all when driving long distances.

There wasn't a lot to talk about, so a long time passed in silence.

The Sturmpanzer had almost nodded off when she suddenly noticed two tanks in the distance. She quickly nudged Sky. "Two heavies approaching, they probably followed our tracks" she reported and Sky nodded gravely as she turned around and got into a firing position just in case. The strangers weren't yet to be seen, but thanks to the SPG she knew the direction at least.

"Can you tell me what models?" she asked the artillery, but Arty shook her barrel.

"I don't know, it's hard to-…one of them's a King Tiger."

Sky tensed up. "That's a tier 8. I can take him on" she said with determination, although she wasn't completely sure. It also depended on what the other tank was. "Can you describe the other one?"

Arty's gun swayed a little as she tried to concentrate.

"Very rectangular. Rear-mounted turret. Most likely German…"

She didn't have to go on, because that was when the two tanks came into sight. Apparently they hadn't even noticed yet that they weren't alone.

"That's a VK 45.02. Looks like Ausfuhrung B…astard. A tier 9. That's bad. Very bad" Sky said grimly. Arty would have hurried over to their team mates to wake them, but that would have taken too long right now, and in no way she wanted to catch the strangers' attention by shouting. It was also too late for running, too; the two heavies were coming closer and closer and would be able to see them every moment now.

"I hope your gun's loaded, because it looks like shit's about to get real" Sky whispered to the Sturmpanzer.


	9. Rex and Fox

"Dat's wery unlikely iff you ask me" Rex mused, "You shot him rright in the fyuel tank, he shoold'f been dead." The VK nodded to himself, as if to confirm his own thought. His friend, the King Tiger just shrugged, not really offended by the fact that one of his shots hadn't been as effective as it should have been for once.

"It happ-"  
"Ja, aber-"  
"Rex."  
"Sorry. Id's just fishy."

Sky could hear the heavies' voices already, although it wasn't yet possible to make out individual words. The road made a small bend a little bit ahead, and that was probably their only chance to get a little advantage. The Pershing and Arty shared a quick glance, and they both nodded. There were some things that didn't have to be said out loud. The medium quickly reversed behind a line of rocks and foliage; just far enough to sneak a little to the side and take a decent run-up once the heavies would be distracted. She hoped of course that this wouldn't be necessary.

As predicted, the two strangers vanished behind the bend, and the Sturmpanzer made her way to the middle of the road to block their way. As they appeared in sight again, they were close enough to finally notice the SPG, and Sky was fully hidden – for now.

Both the Tiger and the VK stopped, heavy suspension grinding to a slow halt. Arty felt like her engine wanted to jump out through her gun barrel. No one said anything as the high tiers turned their turrets, their guns pointing right at the SPG. Only the growling sound of their engines and the wind could be heard.

"….good evening, Gentlemen, enjoying your drive?" the Sturmpanzer said. Well, if she died right now, she might as well die with her last words being a cool one-liner. Except that she wondered if she shouldn't have come up with something wittier than that.

The two heavies hesitated.

"Fochs, shoud we shoot her?" the VK asked, his voice wary.  
The addressed tank tilted his gun and swung the turret around to check the surrounding area for anything that looked suspicious.

"It could be a twrick. Let's not take any rrisks" Rex continued as his companion didn't say anything.

"Artillery, are you alone?" The King Tiger eventually asked, his gun trained at the SPG again.

The Sturmpanzer really didn't know how to answer. Should she claim that she was alone and risk being caught, or should she endanger the others by giving them away? Her treads were tense as she racked her mind about the answer to the question. The seconds passed in silence until the heavies had seen enough to decide that something was off here.

"Too long" Fox said and the distinct sound of two cannons being loaded could be heard.


	10. Showdown

"_Hey, asshole!"_  
There was gunfire as Sky burst out from behind her cover, shooting at the King Tiger's flank as she rushed past his heavy frame faster than he could turn his turret. He cried out in anger and pain, both him and his friend being too surprised to do much about the assault for a split second.

Rex fired, but missed as the Pershing swerved to the side, making a narrow turn and disappearing behind a rock.

"Leave this to me!" Fox said to his friend, who didn't object but instead drove out of the way a little, his hull turning to face the threat while his turret turned toward the spot where he had seen the Sturmpanzer just a moment ago. But she was gone, the little brat. An explosion right in front of him made him jerk his gun out of the way. The SPG hadn't hit him, but he was still caught in the explosion. While it wasn't enough to penetrate his armor, there was still a nasty burning sensation and his glare darted across the surrounding area frantically as he looked for any sign of a tracer to see where the hell the Sturmpanzer had disappeared to.

Another shot tore through the night air and some of the rocks the Pershing had driven behind were turned to dust. But she was already rushing on, surprising Fox yet again as she approached on the same side she had before, defying his expectation. He stopped his turret mid-rotation to turn it to the other side instead, knowing however that his reload time would be too long to stop her in time before she would be able to pass him by again.

"You goddamn cowards!" Sky shouted as she drove by the Tiger and shot him another time, "Attacking a fucking tier 4? Really?"

"Shut up!" Rex roared as the King Tiger remained silent to focus on taking aim instead of responding. The Pershing was making another turn, but this time he was prepared.

The noise had woken up the other two members of the team, and Awol and Noob quickly made their way to a position from where they could overlook what was going on.

"Where did these come from?" Awol cried out, voice still a bit bleary from being woken up like this. He had to watch his sister getting hit by one of the King Tiger's shells, not wounding her mortally but blowing off a good portion of her turret armor as she attempted to zip by.

"We must help them!" Noob said and rocked on his treads in agitation.  
"But how? They're ten times stronger than us!" the Wespe snapped, "They won't even feel it if we shoot them!" They had to get out of here, and fast, but he didn't even see Arty and attempting to escape would be a huge risk as well. The only solution he could think of would be to try to talk to the heavies and make them stop somehow, but considering how angry they looked, he wasn't sure if that was going to work. He wanted to share his plan with the Leichttraktor, but said Leichttraktor was already taking off to climb down the hill.

"Noob, _wait!_" the Wespe called after him, but to no avail.

The Leichttraktor knew that he stood no chance against the two strangers. He was scared as hell as he drove towards them from a dead angle, but even he knew that outnumbering the enemy increased the meager chances they had to survive this. And if he could distract them even for a second, it would maybe give them a small advantage. Maybe it would give Sky an opening to do some serious damage.

Awol had had the same idea, but since driving after Noob would have been ludicrous, he decided that he had to go about this the arty way. He brought his gun in position.

There was still no sight of the Sturmpanzer, so the VK took it upon himself to ignore Fox' earlier command – as the Pershing was still struggling with regaining control after being hit, he took aim at her as well and shot her in the same spot his friend had.

The shell hit her in the turret as well, knocking her unconscious. She skidded a few more meters before coming to an involuntary halt.

"Good shot!" Fox said with a smile.


	11. Aftermath

Awol had been about to shoot, but froze when he saw how his sister wasn't moving anymore. "_SKY!_" he screamed, but to no avail. The only thing he achieved was to catch the heavies' attention. They both turned to look upwards now and saw the SPG. It was a bit hard to tell from that angle which one exactly it was, but they weren't going to take any chances and their guns were reloading already.

"Might be another Sturmpanzer" Fox suggested and Rex nodded.

The Wespe quickly backed up, and Arty was finally ready to shoot again. She hit the Tiger's side, almost causing the suspension to break. Almost. Fox was about to turn towards the source of the damage, as it was obvious now which bush the SPG sat behind, when suddenly something hit his friend in the back.

In the spur of the moment, Noob hadn't known what else to do. He had just shot the VK, and it had probably been the worst idea ever, because instead of causing any damage at all, the shell had bounced with the most unimpressive 'ding' sound.

Rex' turret turned around slowly, as he was obviously dumbfounded by how a direct hit could just fail to achieve anything at all like this one had just done. In fact it had barely hurt.

He found himself staring at a mortified Leichttraktor.

That was the moment when Fox lost it.

"What are you guys supposed to be? The Hitlerjugend?" he laughed. Strangely enough, the laugh didn't sound mean; just very delighted. His friend joined in on his laughter, and Noob felt the immediate need to become one with the ground.

"Wee'rr not fiting a bunch of kids" Rex said, getting a little more serious again. "Wat are you doing heer? Is dis your base?"

Both Arty and Awol dared to peek out of their hiding places, and the Wespe decided this might be the chance to talk he had hoped for.

"We're sorry that we attacked you. We don't want any trouble, really! This isn't our base, but we need fuel. That's the reason why we are passing through here. If it's your territory we will try to leave as soon as we can" he explained from his elevated position, voice a bit shaky.

"Wat about her?"Rex asked and waved his cannon at the Pershing.  
"She's my sister" Awol explained, "She was trying to protect us. We thought you were going to kill us."

The heavies looked at each other for a moment.

"Fair enough" Fox said eventually. "We are on our way to Himmelsdorf. Our team camps there. Do you want to come with us? You obviously can't stay there, but I'm sure they'll give you a little fuel so you can continue your travel at least."

Awol felt a huge wave of relief wash over him, as did the rest of his team.

"That would be very generous of you. Thank you a lot for the offer." He hoped that they were sincere and wouldn't just take them apart on the way or once they had reached their destination. But they had to trust them for now. Actually, they did seem quite nice, despite their scary guns and appearance.

Everyone could finally leave their cover, and they woke up Sky to explain to her what they were going to do. She was wary at first, but eventually agreed and now six tanks started making their way to Himmelsdorf.

"Sorry about dat earlier" Rex said to the Pershing as he drove next to her. "We faught you were a hi tier teem with a misfitt Anhängsel."

Sky didn't have to understand what the last word was to know the meaning, and she had to chuckle. There was an indignant "_Hey!_" from Arty, who had heard that, but she took no real offense and just drove on.

"It's alright." Sky responded. "Shit, I thought that was going to be the end of us."

"Well, another shot from one of us and you would have been done for, that's for sure. I don't know if we wouldn't have let the rest of you go, though. There's no honor in slaughtering lambs" Fox threw in with a shrug, causing both the VK and the Pershing to nod.

"I respect that" she said.

A bit further back, Noob and Awol were driving together. They were still a little shell-shocked, but tried to overcome it by chatting.

"Like I said, you shoot them in the butt. Always works, I told you."  
Awol couldn't help but giggle at that. He never would have thought that the Leichttraktor's tactic would ever find any practical use in such a situation and that wasn't destined to end in disaster in that case. Of course shooting a tank in the rear was always a good idea, but the way Noob had explained it last time, it had sounded like he exclusively used his tactic on tanks that were of much higher tier than himself.

"You were right" the SPG said with a smile.  
"Of course I was" the Leichttraktor replied with an audible grin.


	12. The Tanking League

[Live Oaks.]

They were still on their way to Himmelsdorf, slowly getting closer to their goal. After driving for the whole day, evening was once again approaching. The sun had already started to tint the sky red. They didn't advance very fast, but with two high tier heavies on their side, it at least didn't feel like they were constantly running from danger anymore.

"Wat are you guys for rreal dough?" Rex asked the Pershing casually, "You are fyew for a teem. And really missmatched."  
It happened that some lower tiers travelled with higher tiers, mostly when some of the tanks didn't progress as fast in tiering up as the others, but it often ended with those tanks getting left behind or being forced to leave eventually. If someone insisted on them staying, they became responsible for them and their shortcomings.

"We are a team. We just found each other and since we get along, we decided to travel as one" Sky said matter-of-factly.

"So wat's your teem name den?"

The Pershing stayed silent for a moment. She didn't really know. "We have none yet."

"You could call yourselves the seal tanking league" Fox grinned.

"Very fucking funny" the Pershing replied with a dark look. But actually, she kind of liked the sound of it. Minus the 'seal' part of course. "Leave out the seal and you can call us that" she said eventually.

"I like the name" the Sturmpanzer added. "What do you guys think? Do you like it?" she shouted over her shoulder to the Wespe and the Leichttraktor, who were caught up in their own conversation.

"Totally!" Noob said cheerfully, then added, "What are we talking about?"  
Awol had become curious and gave the others ahead of him an interested look as well, but didn't say anything.

Sky spun her turret around. "We're thinking about calling us the tanking league. Any objections?"

"Sounds good to me!" Noob said in his seldom heard serious voice. The Wespe nodded as well. "It has a nice ring to it."

And therefore it was decided. From now on the team would call themselves the Tanking League. Little did they know that it would soon consist of many more tanks than just the four of them.


	13. Ambush

[Himmelsdorf.]

"We're almost there" Fox announced as the silhouettes of higher buildings came into sight. The tanking league looked ahead, and a certain two of them immediately got a bad feeling in their metal guts. It wasn't like they didn't know about Himmelsdorf, but actually seeing it from up close or even being in it was always worse than just thinking or talking about it.

The bad feeling should turn out to be justified, because just as they were about to reach the outskirts, there was suddenly gunfire, and they scattered in alarm. Only three seconds after, another shot was fired, hitting the ground just in front Fox, who did his best to swerve out of the way, but still earned a scratch on his glacis plate.

"What the hell!" Fox and Sky yelled in unison, but only the Tiger continued. "Why are you attacking?! It's us!"

Somewhere behind the ruins of a building, a shadow zipped by, then another shot whistled past the heavy's turret, bouncing off luckily.

All of them dove behind cover as fast as possible, and Sky shouted an agitated "Didn't you say we would be welcome? Because it doesn't fucking look like it!"

"Dhis isn't suppohsed to happen!" Rex intervened, "Dhe town belongs to us!" The VK fell silent as he had to duck away from another shot that had come from a completely different direction. Now the sound of tank engines coming to life could be heard in the distance, as well as warning shots fired into the air.

The tanking league as well as the heavies were loading their guns, since sitting around in confusion wasn't about to do any good, peeking out of cover and flinching back behind it when a shot just barely missed them. The SPGs couldn't do much, but the rest of them tried to spread out to make them less of an easy target. The descending sun had reached the skyline and shone at a blinding angle, making it even more difficult to figure out who was shooting at them and from where.

Finally, Fox got enough of a glimpse of their attacker to recognize him.

"Nordic! Stop! It's me, Fox!" he shouted, and apparently this achieved something, as the hail of bullets suddenly stopped. A gun barrel appeared from behind one of the building corners.

"Fox? Hmm, you changed" the addressed tank said, sounding notably unbothered by the fact that he had accidentally attacked someone he was supposed to know.

The King Tiger got less tense as he rolled towards the TD's position slowly. "We are back from the clan wars. We reached new tiers" he explained. "The VK 45 over there is Rex."

Now, the rest of the Hellcat appeared from behind his cover and he glanced at the strangers that were trying to enter the town. Behind him the sound of his approaching team mates got louder.

"But who's those other people?" he asked and nodded at what was visible of the tanking league – a grim looking Pershing rolling out from behind the wreck of a long destroyed tank, two SPGs who looked a bit intimidated, and a Leichttraktor that seemed to have no qualms about staring curiously now that the danger was apparently gone.

"We found them on our way back. They are lost and need to refuel."

A T29 appeared between the buildings, pushing an abandoned car out of the way. Other tanks started to appear as well, all guns pointed at the newcomers.

"Fox! Rex! What's the meaning of this?" He drove up to the two heavies, who were now standing next to each other as the VK had caught up to his friend. The other four travelers had all come out and assembled, standing there in an awkward line like new recruits at the physical examination.

Nordic turned his turret to look at the T29. "Look what the cat's dragged in" he said with a cheerful cackle, obviously amused by the pun on his own vehicle type. "They returned and brought us low tiers."

Eject ignored the interjection and instead waited for his heavy team mates to answer.

"They are frriends" Rex said. "All they wont is some fyuel and a plaice to stay for dhe night."

The T29 seemed to consider this new information for a moment. He looked at his team mates and got looks ranging from indifferent to clueless to disgruntled in return.

"We'll have to talk about this first. They can wait here outside until then" Eject eventually decided and the rest of his team nodded, only the Tiger and the VK looked a bit uncomfortable. But they weren't going to go against their own team.

"Go, we'll wait here" Sky said. Fox nodded and he and Rex followed their team mates back into the town to decide what to do about the strangers.


	14. Decisions

On the way up the hill of the town – where the meeting would be held – Fox had taken it upon himself to tell Eject what they had been up to. All in all their participation in the clan wars hadn't gone too bad. Rex and he had had the chance to gather new experience and move up in tiers, making them stronger. They out-tiered a lot of the team's members now, immediately granting them additional respect, although the majority of something like that had to be earned.

"Where is Pepper?" Eject asked eventually. "He didn't get himself destroyed, did he?"  
"Oh no, not at all. Quite the opposite" Fox replied in a casual tone. "He said he wanted to stay for longer, that's why he didn't return with us." He shrugged and gave an almost sheepish smile. "Said he was SO close to tier 10. Said he still needed more time to perfect his aim."  
"That sounds like him."  
"You should have seen how he _detonated_ when we lost that battle for Airfield. People were afraid of even talking to him for a while."

There was a knowing cannon-nod from Eject. "He'll come back, eventually, I'm sure." It would obviously be a huge advantage to have a Leopard 1 on their team. And by the time Pepper would be back, they would have hopefully caught on.

They eventually reached the top of the hill. Most of the others were already there and had started their own little conversations while waiting together. Joining the crowd, they overheard some of the chatter but didn't really pay much attention to it, since some of it was only small talk anyway.

As the last tank arrived, they formed a loose circle. Before someone could even formally open the meeting however, a T-34 spoke up, sounding upset.

"No way they can come!" he exclaimed, "We need all fuel, we cannot give."

There were a few acknowledging nods in the crowd, and Fox felt compelled to speak up while Eject was just watching the scene thoughtfully.

"They are low tiers. Most of them, anyway. They won't need a lot, and they might die before they can find another team that offers them fuel" the King Tiger said firmly. It seemed to make some of the attendants rethink their view on the matter, but the general opinion still seemed to be a rather negative, distrustful one.

"If we give _them_ fuel, why don't we just go and open a fuel station? If we give to one team, the next step is giving to every team" the same G.W. Panther that had tried to cause trouble last time threw in. Eject frowned at such an obvious logical fallacy and intervened.

"That's ridiculous."

An AMX 13-75 in bright camo colors spoke up as well, defending the Panther. "She's right though! What's so special about these tanks that makes us obliged to feed them? They're just a team, like every other team. Just because you traveled with them for a bit and found them cute doesn't mean that the rest of us does."

Rex decided that it was his time to say something. It bothered him to no end that not only he, but also his friend had become target of such snotty behavior.

"Lissen up, _frriend_" he hissed, "Hoo died to mayk you king?"

The French light tank's engine growled menacingly in response. Or, it would have been menacing if it wasn't for the fact that its sound wasn't half as powerful as Rex'.

Eject felt the mood of the whole team tilt towards a much more aggressive one. There had been tensions between the team members for a while now. They might have been strong, but there were problems that were starting to get harder and harder to ignore and it was starting to affect their performance as a whole. It was only a matter of time until someone was going to throw a fit and leave; that was for sure. Their only hope was that it was going to happen without unnecessary violence involved.

"It's no use to give fuel to outcasts who will most likely die soon anyway" another SPG said, his voice bare of all emotion as he did. A very uncomfortable medium decided to add his opinion directly afterwards.

"Wouldn't you want the same to be done for you if you were starving? What if you guys got lost and couldn't conquer a base? You would hope that someone would share with you too, wouldn't you?" He immediately ducked as he was given some very dark looks, but some expressions turned a little guilty. Eject made sure to look at each of the tanks individually. As silence prevailed, Fox decided that it was time for one last attempt to convince his team. He drove forward a little to make sure he had everyone's attention.

"I want to see even one of you step forward and say that you would want to be responsible for the death of four lost tanks who meant no harm to us but only asked for a little favor that would help them survive. Don't you think that they would return the hospitality? Does comradeship mean nothing at all anymore? They are _not_ the enemy."

The clan wars had shown him how important it was that sometimes different teams worked together, and that, contrary to popular belief, not all teams had to go against each other.

Eject's mind was made up, and he nodded in agreement. "The King Tiger is speaking the truth" he said, "Who else agrees with him?"

A lot of gun barrels rose. Not all of them, but the majority, and therefore it was decided. The meeting was over.

As Eject turned around to join Rex and Fox in retrieving the waiting tanking league, he got one last glimpse of the G.W. Panther shooting them the darkest glare.


	15. Shelter

"I don't think they'll let us in" Awol said. "They're probably just waiting until we go away on our own." He hung his cannon, causing the Pershing to give him a concerned look. She was about to say something, but Noob beat her to it.  
"Nah, I think they will" he said with utter conviction. "You worry too much!"

What he failed to mention was that he himself wasn't quite sure, but he didn't want to bring the rest of the team down any more.

Night had fallen and it had gotten dark between the buildings, so they had migrated to a slightly more illuminated area just outside the city that was dominated by train tracks. They had made sure to stay in the shadows just enough to not be seen from far away. No need to attract unwanted passerbyes.

The mood was a rather gloomy one nevertheless. Arty had nodded off in the meantime, and what kept the rest of them awake was mostly hunger. Noob started pushing around a few small stones with his treads to fight the boredom while waiting, as no one said anything anymore. It was better than just sitting around and doing nothing.

After what felt like a couple of hours, an engine could be heard, and a heavy tank appeared in view. He drove down the street and followed the rails to where the tanking league had their provisory camp.

As soon as he reached them, Eject gave the four tanks a pensive look. "You're allowed to stay for now. But try to keep a low profile, not everyone here is happy with that decision" he said and nodded towards the town. "I'll show you where the garages are."

Relief was an understatement for what they felt now. Except for the Sturmpanzer, who only woke up when the others already started moving. She quickly caught on to what must have happened though, and hummed to herself cheerfully as she followed her team to the base.


	16. Eohelm

It felt good to not be low on fuel. The lamps inside Eject's open garage slot provided them with just enough light to make the small square in front of that particular garage block feel homelike. They were standing together in a small circle; Rex and Fox had joined and Eject had already been integrated – probably without being asked, but he also didn't object – into their patchwork group. The rest of Eject's team was either outside to guard the town, sleeping, or stood together with their own clique.

Shortly after the tanking league had been accepted into the town and after they had all refueled, a Centurion had approached them. The first impression they had gotten of him was loud music coming from his radio, but various yells from team mates had eventually made him turn that off, although not without yelling back at first.

He had introduced himself as Eohelm, and was apparently the only other tank from his team willing to talk to them at all. And not only a bit.

Now, they were listening to the Centurion, and he actually had quite interesting stories to tell. No one even dared to interrupt him as he described historical battles and tanks none of them had even seen. Eject however was only half-listening, and he made it somewhat obvious. He already knew the stories, and even if he hadn't known them before already, he would have known them by now, considering how much his team mate talked about these things.

The Centurion was more or less the only one on their team who was _that_ thorough with reviewing past battles over and over again, always on the lookout for new strategic insights. In the end, it was good of course, since it was useful to the team, but sometimes some of his team wished he would acquire these insights in silence.

Eventually, he ended. He gave the little crowd curious looks. They were half expecting that he'd ask what they thought about his stories now, but got surprised as this was not the case.

"So, what stories do you guys have to tell?" he asked, "I mean, you're quite an unusual bunch. I'm sure all of you have got a little tale to tell." The Centurion never said no to listening to interesting stories. After all, there could be useful things learned from them. Especially if they involved fighting, which tank stories always did.


	17. Stories

It was obvious that no one wanted to start talking, so Eohelm decided to give them a verbal nudge.

"What about you, Wespe?" he asked Awol, who immediately turned his gun to the side in startled embarrassment. Why was he picked, of all people? He still wasn't comfortable with telling his side of the story at all, and while Noob had simply never asked again, the Wespe was still at a loss of what to say right now – in front of everyone. He didn't want to seem impolite or like he was trying to hide something. Luckily, Sky had felt addressed as well and spoke up before he could start fumbling for words.

"We are looking for a new home" she said plainly. There was a short moment of silence as everyone apparently expected to hear more, but nothing came.

"That's all?" Eohelm asked eventually, speaking everyone's mind.

The Pershing nodded sternly. "That's all."

Despite the fact that everyone felt like there was more to the story – and Noob secretly wondered how that story fit in with what he had witnessed – no one was untactful enough to ask further. If they didn't want to talk about details, that was fine.

"And our other artillery?" Eohelm continued, looking at the Sturmpanzer instead now. She didn't answer immediately, feeling a little indignant. He could have said her type name too…It made her feel a little bit like an also-ran. But she didn't show it, out of fear of making a fool of herself or seeming vain. She raised her gun barrel a little, mentally preparing herself for what she was about to say. She felt guilty and saw no point in trying to sugarcoat her crime now that she was asked so directly about it.

"I killed a team mate." She noticed a couple of shocked, almost repulsed looks. It wasn't like they would now throw her out, and no one just jumped to conclusions about what exactly had happened, but it was still a trained response to be scandalized by something like this.

Sky was the first one to speak up. "How did that happen?" she asked, her voice neutral.

Arty looked down. The fact that she hadn't wanted to kill one of her own team didn't make her feel better about the whole issue. "It was an accident" she mumbled. "I thought I was in danger." The other tanks' looks were still skeptical, obviously they expected more of an explanation. It wasn't like anyone felt threatened by the tier 4 SPG, and no one was trying to insinuate that she had had ill intentions - they were giving her a chance to explain and redeem herself. Something her old team hadn't done.

"I…They were shooting me. It hurt and I wanted them to stop, but they didn't." A hint of bitterness and anger appeared in her voice as she continued. "They thought it was _funny_." She looked up again, shifting backwards a little in an attempt to make her wish to be forgiven obvious. "I was sure that I was going to miss, but I hit him. Everyone heard it, and then they saw the wreck. They made me leave."

It suddenly made more sense to Sky why she had been followed by a lonely artillery. Mavericks that travelled the land alone weren't unheard of, but if you weren't high tier and much stronger than the others you didn't survive long. That meant that the Sturmpanzer must have started following her almost immediately after she had been kicked out by her team.

"Sou I guess you don't want to rreturrn?" Rex asked, saying something for the first time in quite a while.

Arty shook her cannon, giving everyone one last imploring look.

"It's alright" the Centurion said with a nod, "This happens to the most loyal tanks. I've seen quite a lot of those cases, but like in yours, the team doesn't always take kindly to it. But you don't seem like one to just go and shoot us in our sleep to me, so it's fine. Let's not dwell on it any longer."

There were a couple of nods, and the one who nodded the fiercest ended up being the next target of the question time.

"And you?" Eohelm asked, startling Noob as the Leichttraktor had completely forgotten that he was inevitably next in line. "Did you slaughter your whole team?"

Noob said nothing for a moment, and then he replied, his voice so casual that everyone's jaw would have dropped if they had one.

"Yep. Quite messy, I tell ya."

"Y-You're joking" Awol gasped, causing the Leichttraktor to start laughing. Arty was about to join in, but apparently no one else found it very funny so she stayed silent.

"Yeah" Noob eventually responded, still giggling. "Well, this is what happened: I'm a noob. Actually, not just _a_ noob…I'm _the_ Noob. I guess you could call me King of the Noobs. They left me behind because they thought I suck."

While it was still better than team mass murder, no one had really been prepared to hear this story either. Only Eject seemed unimpressed. "I can see why" he said, deadpan. Now that did make the Leichttraktor stop laughing, and he pouted.

"Hey!" he huffed "I can be good if I want…! I just…don't want to, okay."

"Sure" Eject replied, obviously not believing any of it.

"I can show you!" Noob said, wiggling on his treads. "I can shoot a leaf from a hundred meters away!"

"That's actually not a bad idea" Fox suddenly interjected, "While you're here, we could train with you a little."

That got the others to shut up and look at the Tiger in surprise. He shrugged as everyone was suddenly looking at him. "I mean, if you're gonna continue your travel, it won't hurt if you get some practice first."

Rex started chuckling. "Yes, we coud use somm tarrget practiss."

Fox gave him a little shove for being so macabre, but couldn't help but grin as well.

"I'd be up for that" Sky decided, "When do we start?"

The King Tiger angled his turret in thought. "Tomorrow sounds like a good time. They won't make you leave right away, I think, so we can squeeze in some training."

Eject didn't share his thoughts on the matter, but Eohelm moved a little. He was feeling tired. "You'll have to do that without me, I guess" he said, "In any case I'm going to sleep now."

They wished him a good night, and continued the banter without him for a bit longer before they eventually decided to rest as well.


	18. Exercise

Arty watched Noob zip around, and to be quite honest, it made her dizzy. Eject had told her to keep him in her sights, but that was hard to accomplish without having to constantly move her hull. Awol didn't seem to have such trouble, and she squinted at him with a bit of envy whenever she was pirouetting involuntarily yet again while all that moved on him was his gun. The task was to track the Leichttraktor's movements and shoot him with defused training ammunition, but that was easier said than done, since Noob had his own objective and therefore hardly stayed still for longer than a mere second.

Together with Sky, he had to outdrive Rex, who was chasing after him fiercely but kept falling behind just enough to never get a clear shot on the smaller German tank. Noob seemed to have a lot of fun, as he laughed whenever he dodged a shot or sneaked up behind Rex while the heavy tried to also take care of the much faster Pershing at the same time. Fighting her hadn't worked out so well for him the last time already, but here, where she had a lot more space to maneuver, she seemed to be even swifter, especially when she had a light tank help her. Not to mention that this time, Rex was alone and didn't have a team mate to work with.

Fox stood slightly away from the spectacle and overlooked it together with Eject.  
"They're doing quite well" the King Tiger mused, and Eject actually had to agree. He honestly hadn't expected them to be able to work together at all, considering how cobbled together they were.

Suddenly, Noob was hit. The shell landed on top of his turret with a loud 'THONK' sound and fell to the ground, rolling away. He froze and looked around. His gaze fell on the little hill where the two SPGs were standing.

The rule was that he had to stop moving when he was hit, and so he did. How weird! He had made extra sure to stay on the move, and yet they got him. Oh well.

Arty gave the Wespe a baffled look. "Hey, good shot!" she applauded, making the other SPG turn away sheepishly. "He had this…pattern of sorts" Awol explained. "I watched him do the same maneuver three times in a row, and the fourth time, I fired."

The Sturmpanzer tilted her cannon and looked back down on the pretend battlefield. "Now that you say it…" she mumbled, half to herself. After having it pointed out to her, she now realized it too, although it would have probably taken a couple of more repetitions of that particular movement until she would have been sure enough to shoot.

With one tank less to take care of, Rex now had all the time he needed to-

He took a hit to one of his vents – making it the three hits _he_ was allowed to take - as the Pershing had suddenly changed her tactic and approached him head-on while he had still been looking at the taken out Leichttraktor. That concluded the current round.

Eject shouted to make himself heard to the group. "Alright, it's Sky against me now, without artillery. First one to take three hits loses" he announced and drove over to where the Pershing was standing.


	19. Nordic

The G.W. Panther was furious. "Who do they think they are?" she hissed. The AMX 13-75 that almost always followed her around had to hop out of the way as her hull swung around; he had been standing in her blind spot. "They disappear for months, and then come back and think they make the decisions! And that Eject guy? I bet he was just waiting for a chance to play leader."

"Then why didn't you speak up when you had the chance?" came a very bored sounding reply from a nearby M40. He didn't even look into her direction. That made her fall silent for a moment, before her rage returned full force and she ranted on.

"It's not about this case alone! It's the general state of things" she said with a growl. "When was the last time we did anything else than sit in this damn town and wait to rot? How can you condone that?" she asked the M40, who was still completely indifferent. His cannon moved about as he was seemingly checking something.

"So what do you suggest?" he asked, "Why don't you go and start a revolution?"

She gave him a wild glare. "You're one of those SPGs who like being told what to do, aren't you? Nothing but a gun on treads."

He stopped moving for a moment; then turned to face her instead.

"Is this supposed to be a really cheap way of riling me up?" he asked. It still sounded emotionless, but there was almost something like a hint of irritation to it. "I don't need others to validate my pride. Maybe you should work on that too."

The AMX seemed personally offended by this, because he suddenly jumped forward, finally leaving the Panther's close vicinity for once. "Don't you dare talking to her li-"

He was immediately shut up as a shot tore up the ground right in front of him. The M40 turned away his smoking gun barrel to gaze at the skies again, leaving a rather intimidated light tank to return to his friend's side.

Nordic had been watching the scene for a while now, hidden between the urban canyons. He liked to keep tabs on everyone, and it had been quite predictable to him that the Panther would soon try to start something. It was probably impossible to change her mind on this. But he had other plans anyway.

"You make some very good points" he said smoothly as he emerged from the shadows. "I too think that this team doesn't have much of a future – at least not if things stay the way they are."

The Panther turned her turret to give the Hellcat a surprised look. She obviously hadn't been aware that she was being watched.

"How much did you hear?" she asked in a tart tone. Nordic countered her glare with a charming smile. "Everything, Ma'am. And I fully agree. Our advances have been stagnating, and there is truly only one way to remedy this." He left the rest of the sentence unspoken, as surely everyone present knew what it was.

"See!?" the Panther said, addressing the M40 again. "It's exactly what I was trying to tell you but what you are too blind to see!"

"Oh, for god's sake. I don't care" the SPG replied and turned to leave with an exasperated sigh. Nordic knew that someone like that wouldn't take part in a riot, not in a million years. And neither would he do something to stop it from breaking out. He watched the Panther glare after her fellow SPG, but she didn't do anything to keep him from leaving.

"What an idiot!" the AMX squeaked, but only got an annoyed look from his artillery idol instead of any sign of appreciation.

It was time for Nordic to take matters into his own hands….treads.

"So what if I said that we should just go ahead and reclaim our rights by force… Are there others who share our sentiment? How many?" he asked and the Panther took a moment to confirm the numbers he knew already anyway.

"Six or seven…maybe more."

It was also easy to figure out that most of the tanks in their team would just blindly follow whoever started acting like a leader. Should a fight break out, it was therefore safe to say that the side with the most convincing warmongers among them would outnumber the other one.

The Hellcat nodded. "That sounds good. How fast could you get everyone to be ready for a coup?"

The Panther looked at her French companion for a moment, but she wasn't really going to ask for his opinion, only checking for any signs of hesitation.

"If I talk to them tonight we should be able to attack in the early morning hours" she said, grim determination in her voice. Nordic knew that she would not cop out of this. If she would be able to gather her supporters that night, she would lead them into battle against her own team, and it would end in a massacre.

"So be it" he said quietly and excused himself. He had an important mission now – he had to warn the others.


	20. Revelations

They were taking a break from the training for now. Afterwards, they would decide if they wanted to continue, but for now everyone was content with just being lazy and letting the sun shine on their plating. Even the Leichttraktor had eventually let himself be convinced that they couldn't just go on and train for hours straight. Only Eject was on the move and patrolled the area, passing them by every once in a while. It was happening again, and Arty watched him thoughtfully; then she shuffled over to Rex.

"_He didn't let Awol and me participate a lot…Doesn't he like artillery?_" she asked in German. The VK gave her a mildly surprised look – apparently he hadn't been aware that they spoke the same language since she hadn't used it before in his presence.  
"_That's not it_" he replied while following Eject with looks as he passed by. "_He used to be a Hummel himself."_  
Now it was the Sturmpanzer's turn to look surprised. _"I never would have guessed._" A SPG converting to a heavy seemed incredibly outlandish to her.  
"_He doesn't really talk about it unless you ask. Even then, not a lot. Maybe something bad happened. I don't know. Not many people do, probably. In any case it was long ago and he mostly stays away from artillery now._"

Arty stayed silent for a moment, considering this new information. She eventually turned to Rex again.

"_Do you think he could teach me how to become a Grille?_" she asked. Rex grinned and nudged her with his cannon. "_Why are you asking me? If you want his help, you'll have to ask him yourself. I don't know_."

Eject had been watching the area for any signs of suspicious activity. Luckily, things had been quiet lately – except for the appearance of the tanking league. However, enemies could always attack, and they mostly did so at the most inconvenient times, so it was important that they always had at least one guard. When he noticed another tank however, it didn't come from outside the city. From Himmelsdorf's borders, he saw a Hellcat hurry towards him. He stopped and watched Nordic approach. Now he often saw the tank destroyer go places fast, but he hardly ever looked so much in a hurry like he was doing right now.

It had to be important, then. The T29 wasted no more time with staring around and instead met his team mate halfway. He couldn't even ask what was wrong before the Hellcat already blurted out his urgent news.

"Get Fox and Rex, we need to talk to them! Eohelm too. Something big's about to go down tonight and it's going to end in a bloodbath if we don't do something" he hissed breathlessly. The heavy didn't ask any questions and nodded immediately. "They're over there. I don't know where Eohelm is at the moment, though."  
"We'll find him. Let's go."


	21. Tate

[Ensk.]

The smell of oil was still fresh on them. The E25 drove ahead, made a sharp turn and returned to the others, only to rush forward again. His Jagdpanther friend played his game for a while and chased after him just to let himself fall back again a couple of times. Despite not joining in, the third of the pack - a Ferdinand - still watched with silent amusement. They were still pumped from their previous hunt. Raiding a town and extinguishing a whole team in the process wasn't something everyone could accomplish. But the three of them were operating exceptionally well together, to the point where they had started calling each other brothers.

A blitz in the dead of the night, and Ensk had fallen. They had taken the fuel and enjoyed their stay for a bit; now they were following the train tracks to find their next prey. Other than a lot of other teams, they weren't interested in conquering and holding a base – all they wanted was a good hunt and the spoils.

"Hey Tate, what about Himmelsdorf?" the E25 asked the Ferdinand, who kept silent for a while. There was a chuckle from the Jagdpanther as he spoke up instead. "You're crazy! They haven't been defeated in ages!"

"Who's to say? If we do it in a not-stupid way we might get some fun" the E25 – his name was Siren – replied. "I'm not talking about killing them all, we could just play with them a little." The word 'play' had a special meaning for Siren. Even though Tate enjoyed hunting with his platoon mates, he didn't always appreciate the more cruel sides of the E25. To the Ferdinand, the purpose of the hunt was to kill. It was about efficiency and their own survival.

Siren, on the other hand, only hunted for the thrill. He loved to spread terror and reveled in the pain and destruction he caused. The third brother, Fang, usually walked on the thin line between those two ideologies.

Sometimes however, the E25's euphoria could be outright contagious, especially in the middle of a heated battle. Those were the moments when they were completely in tune and functioned as one.

"We could pop in, but I wouldn't take any risks" Tate said eventually and earned his platoon mates' cheers.


	22. Silence Before The Storm

**_[For those who are getting confused with the amount of characters by now, I have uploaded a cheat sheet that you can find in my profile.]_**

[Himmelsdorf.]

Eohelm paced up and down the burnt out building. "This is bad" he mumbled, pointing out the obvious. Planning a battle against another team was one thing – even if it had to be done when the attack had already started – but fighting an enemy within their own lines? That wasn't something that happened very often. Not to say that it hadn't happened before; but there was nothing predictable about it. No factors were for sure and they didn't even know whom they could count on, except for themselves.

"Those fucking-"  
Sky was cut off by a furious VK.  
"Bastarde! Wie- How daehr dhey!" he snarled.

Eject had fallen quiet and watched the Centurion drive about. The news were dire, but he had seen this day coming. It was too late to negotiate or avert the confrontation, but at least they had been granted until tonight to work out a plan to avoid their total annihilation. He wasn't sure what the G.W. Panther was even trying to achieve with this - other than acting out her frustration or some kind of god complex - because even if she should somehow win this, the team would have been decimated beyond a reasonable number.

Eohelm had ignored the interjections and went on. "We need to get the low tiers out of the town and hide them well until this is over."

The tanking league – except for Sky – had been told to wait outside and everyone agreed that it would be safer to not tell them the details of what was up to prevent any reckless efforts to help. Basically, it was none of their business so none of them was obligated to help, but the Himmelsdorf team had helped them, so Sky had decided that she was going to offer her help in return.

"Who's on our side?" Fox asked.

There was a moment of silence before Nordic rolled forward and spoke.  
"Us, obviously. But other than that, we can't know for sure. My fellow TD Axis seems like someone who might help us…but it's hard to tell with him and his moods. He might just decide to switch sides randomly in between, depending on who wins. I wouldn't count on our other heavy either. He doesn't care who he shoots, he just does what he's told, so the arty probably already won him over. And our M40 is probably on his way to an extended vacation right now."

There were a couple of stern nods from his team mates. They knew the others well enough to confirm those speculations.

"What about our other tank destroyer?" It was another question from Fox. He had started to realize that things must have gotten a lot worse since they had left, and he knew that Rex thought the same as he gave him a brief look and their optics met.

Nordic shook his cannon. "No chance. He's just been waiting for a chance to make something like this happen. I overheard him talk to the T34 – who's against us as well, obviously."

There was a growl from Rex. "How!? He used to be a loyel soldjer!"  
The Hellcat just shrugged. "People change. You were gone for a long time. Things changed."  
Rex fell silent, but his disappointment was obvious. He was basically boiling; not only were his friends in danger, but that danger was their own team mates.

"The Indien-Panzer will probably help us. He took a stand for you when we voted whether you could stay" Eohelm added, looking at Sky. "But I don't trust him enough to warn him beforehand. We will see how he reacts once the fight breaks out."

"That's seven tanks on our side. Not a majority, but we can still survive this if we can think of a good plan and execute it well" he continued and stopped pacing to stare into space in deep thought. "The most important thing is that we make them think that we are oblivious to what they have planned. When they attack, we must be ready and surprise them with counter-fire. If possible, we have to flank them while they are distracted. It would require some of us to stay where they are going to look first, but the rest of us will have to take positions so we can surround them."

"We'll have to try and take out as many of them as possible in the initial strike. They'll most likely expect us to be in our garages when they attack, so I want you two there, Eject and Rex. I will be nearby to provide you with covering fire."

"Nordic, you will cover the hill. I'm almost one-hundred percent sure that the Panther will sit up there. It's possible however that a tank destroyer is guarding her. In that case do not engage but let us worry about them. If you can't find her, send us a comm and Sky will search the rails next. Once she is taken care of, make sure to return to us and cover the east."

The Hellcat nodded.

"Once the fight has started, split up. Eject, you will cover the south together with Rex, while Sky and I will take care of the west. Nordic will push from the east, if possible. Be wary of their tank destroyers, try to take them out first. We will make sure their heavy is going nowhere. If we manage to push them towards the center square, Fox will be waiting there and block their escape route."

The determined looks he got told him that none of them would even think about chickening out. Sky raised her gun.

"Fuck yes. Let's give 'em hell, boys!"

Night was falling. The tanking league (except for Sky) had been escorted outside the town secretly. There had been protests, and they had demanded to know why they had to hide, but Sky had made it clear that they had to stay where they were no matter what. As they had seen how serious she was, they had eventually caved in and promised not to leave their hideout.

The plan was to let the team-killers see that they were entering their garage slots to rest, and then sneak out again to take their agreed upon positions once no one was looking. If they hadn't known about the planned betrayal, they would have wondered about how busy the G.W. Panther seemed, prancing about as she probably made some last-minute preparations for the execution of _her_ plan.

Nordic was the only one who was able to approach her, which he did after everyone else had gone to rest. He had offered that he could keep watch to make sure no one left the town or did anything unexpected, but the Panther's ever-present sidekick - the AMX - had insisted to go instead. Nordic on the other hand was told to go to his garage and stay there until he would be given the signal.

It was a shame. The idea had been to gain additional information about the details of how the attack was going to go down. But being more persistent about his wish could have jeopardized their operation, so he obliged.

He was also the first one to leave his garage after everything had gone quiet. No one was outside but him - and of course the AMX, but he seemed to take his guard duty seriously as he was nowhere to be seen. He made sure to make as little noise as possible as he knocked on the others' doors to tell them the air was clear. One after another, they came out and exchanged looks and nods, then went to hide at their positions. Only Rex and Eject stayed behind.

The whole act had only taken a few minutes, and with the doors closed again, it was like it had never taken place at all.

The AMX 13-75 strolled through the nightly landscape. He was already giddy with excitement. At sunrise they would strike and eradicate those rotten bastards. Then the G.W. Panther would be leader and she would from then on choose their powerful and loyal new allies. And he, he would lead by her side. They would find a much better place than this filthy town, where no one would be able to take them on.

All they had to do to make it happen was to get rid of their team mates.

Only a few hundred meters away, the tank destroyer pack was lying in wait. They were just as excited as the AMX was, but for completely different reasons. They had been observing the town throughout the whole day, on individual positions. They had figured out the structure of almost the whole team by now. And it was clear to them that something was about to go down. The team seemed uneasy, tanks had been gathering and talking, making it seem like those gatherings were held secretly.

Normally, the night would be a good time for them to attack. But the platoon had decided to wait and see how this would develop. It was possible that the team thought about migrating to another base. If that happened, they would maybe get a good opportunity to strike. And even if something else happened…they were ready.

As an AMX passed them by not too far away and completely oblivious of their presence, Siren started getting twitchy.  
"Let's go and get him. Have a little interrogation. Find out what's up" he suggested with a sneer. There wasn't really any further persuasion needed.

Only moments later, a quivering French light was surrounded by three tank destroyers.  
"What do you want from me?!" he said, pretending not to be afraid. It was pretty easy to figure out that he definitely _was _scared, though.  
Before one of his brothers could say anything, Tate spoke up, his voice quiet and calm.

"We want to ask you a few questions. If you answer truthfully, we will let you go."

The AMX somehow couldn't bring himself to believe that. "Why should I believe you? You're going to kill me anyway!" he replied defensively. That earned him a rough shove from the E25.  
"You're accusing our brother of being a liar, rat? Say that again and see what happens!"  
The light tank yelped and looked even more intimidated at once.  
The E25 went on. "Tell us what you guys are up to, and we'll let _you_ go. The rest of your team will have to die, of course. But if _you _lied to _us_, and we go in there to find something unexpected, we'll get the hell out of there and go after you instead. And trust me, we won't just _shoot_ you. We'll make you _suffer_."

He had inched closer and closer to the light tank, causing said tank to freeze and gape in horror.

"So, whose life do you value more? Theirs….or yours?"

The Ferdinand was simply watching. He didn't have to add anything, knowing that his brothers knew well how to get someone to talk without his help. There were no hard feelings against the light; this was nothing personal. But they wouldn't hesitate to destroy him if he didn't cooperate, since the last thing they wanted to do was rush into a heavily fortified town and meet their untimely end.

The AMX stayed silent for a moment. He thought about their planned operation, and about the G.W. Panther. He adored her. All he had ever wanted was her attention, not to mention that he believed every word she said about her visions of a brighter future. He had thought that he'd follow her till death, but now, staring into the barrel of a gun, he suddenly found that he wasn't so sure about this anymore.

"What do you want to know?" he eventually asked, sounding defeated.

He told them everything. About their plans, about the attack that would take place in a few hours. As he ended, he looked even more crestfallen than before. Fang and Siren had found the story quite entertaining, as they had realized that this was going to be a perfect time to spread some havoc. Tate's mood however had gotten darker and darker the more he had heard. It wasn't because he was against their participation – he was actually wholeheartedly looking forward to it, but for other reasons than the possible kills they would be able to score.

The AMX asked if he was allowed to go now, but instead of answering, the Ferdinand shot him. That shot was enough to off the light, and two surprised looks fell on the tank destroyer.  
"Whoa, what was that for?" Fang asked in confusion. He wasn't used to such needlessly violent acts from his brother.  
"I hate traitors" the Ferdinand said with contempt in his voice, "And that one didn't even stop at that, he had to go ahead and betray his fellow traitors. Disgusting."

The other tank destroyers shared a look and Siren shrugged.


	23. Apocalypse Now

The time had come. The horizon was just starting to get light, and the G.W. Panther left her garage. Everyone else must have been sleeping, since there was no noise to be heard anywhere. Using an agreed upon private frequency, she told her accomplices to wake up and come out, then made her way towards her position on the hill. She knew that this was the spot where they would be looking for her first, but she didn't intend to stay there for longer than necessary. In case any of them was going to survive the initial attack.

As she was halfway up the hill, she received a comm from one of her team mates.

«The AMX isn't here. Should we start without him?»

That made her pause. Was he still out there on guard? What if he had bailed on them? She felt a small pang at the thought, without knowing why. For all she knew, she should be angry if he had decided to leave at such a time. And as she looked into herself, she found that she was. She would have never expected that _he _of all people would betray her.

Another comm arrived.  
«Indien-Panzer is nowhere to be seen either. No idea where he went, he was here a moment ago. And Nordic uhm...he's gone.»  
The G.W. Panther gave an exasperated sigh. How come that before they could even start, the plan was in danger of falling apart? It was probably better to execute it right away before more things could go wrong.  
«We have no time to wait. Begin the attack» she responded.

Down at the garages, the T34 grinned at the T-150.  
"Looking forward to quick fight?" he asked, but one of the tank destroyers – Axis – answered instead of the heavies.  
"That's no fight, it's a slaughter. At least show some piety and call it that."  
"Loosen up a bit, man. How about we stop talking and start shooting?" the other TD, an AT 15A interjected.  
An impatient comm from the G.W. Panther supported his words, and the heavy shot down the first garage door, but found it empty.

"What!" he roared, and his team mates started destroying the other garage doors, but none of them were occupied.

«Something's wrong!» Axis commed to the G.W. Panther, but before he could receive a reply, two of the yet unopened doors burst open and Axis fell under an unexpected barrage of gunfire. The T-150 was hit from the side and spun around, but an attacker was nowhere to be seen. Without thinking first, he started heading into the direction the shot had come from while his accomplices scattered in an attempt to get out of the direct line of fire, shooting at the two heavies that had suddenly appeared.

«It's begun, everyone get ready!» Eohelm commed his part of the team, and everyone left their respective hideouts to take their position, ready to fire. There was an incoming report from Eject.

«Axis down; T-150 heading for your position; AT 15A going for H4; T34 going J6-H7!»  
Nordic added what he had found out as well.  
«Didn't see anything but I heard someone pass by, must have been the Panther.»  
The Centurion quickly checked the mentioned coordinates against his map. He had hoped that they would be smarter than all fleeing into different directions, but nothing was lost yet.  
«Copy that. Sky will lead T-150 away and intercept AT 15A, you and Rex keep driving them towards us; Fox try to catch the T34; I'll flank the T-150! Nordic, all the TDs were here, which means the Panther is alone; get her!»

They confirmed the orders and Sky nodded at the Centurion. They could already see the T-150 approaching them, and Eohelm retreated to keep hidden until the time was right while Sky moved to where the heavy would be able to see her clearly.

"Come and get me, you treacherous fuckhead!" she yelled at him, and ducked as the reply was a shell. Time to do her part. She turned to the side and sped off while Eohelm waited.

Nordic raced up the hill, cautious for obstacles despite not expecting any. His armor wasn't the thickest, so it was a good idea to be careful about diving headlong into unknown territory. The Panther must have figured out by now that he wasn't on her side, and this time he didn't intend to have a talk with her.

A riot, how ridiculous. The M40 had never been able to relate to the Panther's whims. And honestly, it was absolutely idiotic in his opinion to start a fight over something like this. But he was having none of it. He was leaving, and he felt no remorse about it. Leaving all of this behind and never returning. Really, all he ever wanted was some peace and quiet. When a team cannibalized itself in the middle of a town, it was not a good place to be for an SPG. And even if some of them should survive it, it was probably only a matter of time until they started arguing again and the whole drama repeated itself.

The SPG was slowly making his way out of the town, reaching the borders now. Was it a good idea to just wander off alone? He tried to think about it, but found that he literally couldn't care. Maybe he would find a better, more peaceful place somewhere else.

As he eventually drove out into the open field, the sun was just starting to rise. It was almost too bright to look at, but he could have sworn that there were dark silhouettes looming ahead. He went on undeterred.

A moment later he was hit by a shell and caught fire, crying out in agony as his last impression was three tank destroyers barreling past him.

The G.W. Panther had the doubtful joy of being able to oversee the whole disaster that was unfolding before her sights. One of them had told the others about the planned assault. It was clear that the other half of the team had known that they were going to be attacked. This was no coincidence.

«T-150 you idiot, you're running straight into a trap! Watch your left!» she barked into the comm, getting a confused «Huh.» as a response. What a useless box of scrap metal. At least he seemed to actually understand what she wanted him to do and didn't follow the Pershing brainlessly.  
«AT, stop running! Fox is going after the T34 towards H6, attack him from the north!»  
«Gotcha.» the AT 15A responded and – much to the Panther's relief – made a sharp turn to follow her order.

When Eohelm realized that the T-150 was looking straight at him as he came around the corner, he knew that the Panther must have managed to actually coordinate her team. Right now, she had the upper hand. He bounced a shot and made a 180° turn to start running towards the rails.  
«Sky, the T-150 found me, return and try to get his back!»  
«What about the AT?» she asked but carried out his order immediately anyway.  
«Let Rex take care of him! Rex, do you copy?»  
«Copy.»

The VK gave Eject a quick glance to make sure he'd be okay on his own before heading off.

Sky turned at once, tracks screeching as the centrifugal force made her skid to the side a bit before she accelerated to full speed again to pursue the heavy instead. She just hoped that Rex would make it in time before the tank destroyer would cause Fox some serious trouble.

Said King Tiger suddenly spoke up.

He had reached the junction too late and could only watch the Russian medium speed off and vanish behind a bend.  
«T34 was too fast, missed him. He's going for G6. Should I pursue?» he asked in a rushed tone.

Eohelm sounded frustrated as he responded.  
«Negative! Watch out for the TD, he'll be behind you soon! Eject, you go after the medium instead!»  
There were two «Understood!»s at the same time.  
As soon as he had ended the comm, he cursed. The heavy behind him was about to finish reloading and the Centurion broke through the fence that divided the rails from the rest of the town, swerving to the side to bring the wagons between him and the other's cannon.  
«Nordic, report!»

The Hellcat didn't answer.

The Panther had been awaiting him, gun already trained on him the moment he had reached the hilltop.

Nordic saw the shot coming. He saw it coming, and he turned around, but it was too late. His engine took a hit, and something ruptured. It stalled, and he felt like he was about to faint, but knew that he would be dead for sure if the G.W. Panther decided to follow him and if he didn't find a very good hiding place _right fucking now_. He heard garbled pieces of Eohelm calling him through the comm, but couldn't focus enough to respond.

There was a door to his left, and he drove right through it with the last bit of momentum he had left, holing up there and trying to stay awake.

Fox couldn't hear or see the approaching tank destroyer yet, but he already drove halfway towards the junction, then turned his hull around and angled it in preparation of what was about to happen. He only had to hold out until Rex would arrive. The only thing that he was worried about was that the T34 could decide to return, but it was unlikely. They would go looking for him once this TD was taken care of.

«T34 is movingh into sentrel square» Rex said as he entered the lane and got a brief glimpse at the medium's rear. That _Mistkerl _kept slipping away but he was only delaying the inevitable. Something else appeared in his reticle, however. The AT was only visible for a moment, shooting around the corner, turning his back to the VK as he didn't notice him, then disappearing to the right. But Fox was already waiting there and Rex heard gunfire, but no explosion. Whatever Fox had hit, it apparently hadn't taken much damage and the AT returned into view as he had obviously changed his mind and headed for the central square. But instead of following his comrade the T34, he turned left and drove down that lane.

The King Tiger and the VK didn't even have to exchange any words, taking up pursuit at once.

Eohelm was driving zigzag to deny the heavy a clear shot, but he knew that this wasn't going to work forever. There was still no response from Nordic, and that didn't bode well. He quickly told Eject to forget about the medium and go looking for the Hellcat instead. Sky had caught up and fired a round into the T-150's back, but he didn't really seem bothered by it as he single-mindedly continued chasing his target. Eohelm tried contacting Nordic again, but again his attempts were fruitless.

The heavy shot again, and this time the shell hit its target. Not only was it immensely painful, but it had also hit the Centurion's radio, effectively putting it out of commission. At the worst time. He quickly drove behind one of the wagons and prepared to turn around and rush back past the T-150 to let Sky know.

Nordic had been trying to reach the Centurion just as desperately. The words refused to form, producing only static. He eventually managed to send a somewhat coherent message to the tactician, but didn't know that Eohelm's radio wasn't even working anymore.

«Eo-…-engine hit-…..really dizzy—….»

Even that bit had already taken an overwhelming amount of effort, and he waited for an answer that never came. He had no idea what was going on, but it was unsettling. He tried to shake his turret to make his vision less blurry. It didn't help a lot; all he achieved was making himself feel even more light-headed.

«Eohelm….?» he tried again, but there was still no response. Preserving what was left of his strength, the Hellcat didn't make any further attempts.

Eject was going as fast as he could. It was tedious. Heavies weren't meant for fast rescue missions, and even though he was hurrying as much as possible, he knew that if Nordic was in immediate danger, there wouldn't be much he would be able to do. At least not until he arrived, at which point it probably was going to be too late. He drove down the lane and reached the big junction. Once he would have passed it, he would reach the second, smaller one, after which the road would start going up the hill. Nordic was probably somewhere there.

Before he could leave the junction however, a tank appeared and blocked the way.

Eject recognized the Indien-Panzer at once. And judging by the medium's grim look, he certainly hadn't come out to help.  
"Get out of the way" Eject said, pointing his cannon at the other tank menacingly. It was kind of sad, really. He knew that the Indien-Panzer wasn't opposing him out of ill intentions. If anything, he was probably mislead. But that didn't change the fact that he was responsible for his actions, and that said actions had made him the enemy right now.

"No!" the Indien-Panzer replied with much less determination than he probably had intended to put into his voice. "I can't let you pass through here!"

"Why?" the T29 asked. It didn't mean 'Why am I not allowed to?' but what Eject was really trying to say was 'Why are you doing this?' and the Indien-Panzer knew that.

The medium's expression turned sorrowful as he responded after a short pause. He seemed to gather all the courage that was left in him as he turned his turret sideways.  
"I have nothing against you, Eject. I won't try to hurt you, but I betrayed everyone and it's too late for me to turn back now. With you in it, our team has no future and the deed is already done! You'll have to kill me if you want to get past me."

The G.W. Panther knew that she had to find another position now. Even though she had managed to fend off the Hellcat, she was sure that he'd soon be back, with friends. She started making her way towards the other side of the desolate castle, but stopped. At the ridge, a gun barrel had appeared, and soon the rest of the tank destroyer's hull followed. The Panther froze. Her gun was still reloading.

The E25 finished climbing the hill and stared directly at her.

"Oh, you must be the SPG the little AMX was talking about…" he said ominously. It took the Panther a moment to connect the dots.  
"What did you do to him?!" she asked, and the response was a cruel chuckle.  
"Well, what do you think I did?" he responded, neglecting to mention that _technically_ it hadn't been him but his brother who had killed the light.

The SPG kept silent for a moment before she spoke again. When she did, there was a tremble to her voice, so faint that it was barely noticeable.  
"Who are you?"

Siren started laughing maniacally. "I'm your end!" he screamed and lunged at her. The G.W. Panther wasted no more time. She turned around and drove off as fast as her treads would carry her. Behind her, the tank destroyer yelled cheerfully.  
"_Run, arty! Run!_"

Despite the grimness of the situation and despite his rage, Rex found that he was quite enjoying himself right now. He retreated just enough and just in time to evade a shot from the AT 15A. With the rear-mounted turret, this was a little tricky, but luckily Rex was good at what he was doing. Rubble from a collapsed wall hid his hull, and so all he had to do was to rock back and forth to look around the corner and shoot what was visible of the TD at the time.

Fox was just across the road, trying to draw in the AT's fire as he inched closer, moving from cover to cover. Their team mate was obviously having trouble deciding who he should rather shoot – the heavy that was slowly tearing down the corner he was hiding behind, or the one that was creeping closer and closer to his position. Something must have happened to the Panther as well, because she had stopped giving orders, leaving the rest of her part of the team disoriented.

It was really just a game of cat-and-mouse, and since Eohelm didn't issue any new commands, they assumed that they had all the time in the world.

"I wannt dhe kill" Rex said out loud.  
"But you got the last one" was the matter-of-fact reply from Fox.

The TD got even more nervous. A shot grazed his cannon, almost breaking it.

"Ja, but dhat was ayges ago!"  
"One week, Rex. _One week_."

Instead of answering, the VK cursed as his turret took a hit while he was busy arguing.  
"**_PISSER!_**" he roared, and his next shell_ did_ break the tank destroyer's cannon.  
The AT backed up; but with a broken gun barrel he was basically already dead. Rex moved out from his cover, as it wasn't needed anymore, and tried to push the King Tiger to the side as both of them tried to get to the doomed tank destroyer first.

"He's _mein!_" Rex growled, trying to shove the other's cannon away from a direct line of fire, while Fox attempted the same. "No! I saw him first!" the King Tiger argued. Metal screeched against metal as they made their way towards their team mate in an awkward crawl. He had even stopped running, knowing that his end was inevitable. He just hadn't expected that he would die like this, with two scrambling and bantering heavies being his executioners.

Finally, two shots were fired at the same time.

Fox' shell missed the TD by a small margin, but Rex hit the mark and killed him. He let out a triumphant "HA!" and the Tiger grumbled something to himself before asking, "How many is it by now?"  
Rex gave him a mischievous grin. "1,000."  
His friend moved his cannon in a small arc, the tank equivalent of rolling one's eyes.  
"Ah, so that's why you were so keen on that one."

Rex didn't have to answer verbally. He couldn't imagine a more notable occasion for his thousandth kill.

"Don't be stupid" Eject said, not moving his gun barrel an inch. "This isn't worth dying for. You fell for a pack of lies. It's not about some big charitable goal, it's about selfishness and revenge. You are being used. It couldn't possibly work and it's not _going_ to work the way you imagined it. You _know_ that, you just don't want to admit it. And now you're about to throw your life away for it." Of all tanks, he would have thought that the medium would know better than to join this lunatic crusade. He had always seemed more _sensible_. The Indien-Panzer gave him a sad look, his voice shaky as he poured out his heart to the T29.

"She promised us victories and freedom! She said that if she was leader, we'd grow much stronger and conquer many bases. She said that we'd never have to be hungry or afraid anymore. She said that you guys are the only thing that is standing between us and all of these things." Judging by the tone of his voice, it seemed to dawn on him now how visionary those promises were. A team that had been reduced to less than half its size had no real chance for survival on its own. The house of cards was collapsing right before his eyes before it had even been completed. Eject saw his chance.

"You don't have to do this" he said calmly. "It's _not_ too late to turn back. I can't promise you any of the things she promised, but I know that you are not a bad person and I _can_ promise that you'll be forgiven. No one will call you a traitor or a team killer. Fight with us instead and we'll end this madness, together."

The medium gave Eject another remorseful look. "I'm sorry."

It was clear that there was no reasoning with him and Eject simply didn't have the time to try any longer. His team mate wanted his imaginary better world to be real so much; but now as he couldn't deny anymore that the future wouldn't be that way, he would rather go down with this dream than face the truth. Eject realized that now. He was about to fire as the medium was suddenly hit in the side by a grey tank destroyer. Metal bent and gave way under the impact and what was left of the tank was pushed against the nearest wall by the momentum and crushed. He didn't even have the time to scream.

There was a low chuckle from the Jadgpanther that had just rammed him as he slowly reversed and faced Eject. Torn off and bent pieces of metal were stuck in the tank destroyers front, some of them falling out as the destroyed medium's fuel and oil dripped off it.

"Oh, my bad. I didn't mean to make such a mess" he said. Like many SPGs, a lot of Tank destroyers as well were somewhat limited in their expressions, but they usually made up for it with their emotions being clearly audible in their voices. And this one's voice made it clear that he wasn't sorry at all.

Instead of being shocked by the display enough to hesitate for even a second longer, Eject shot him. Those who took the time to be paralyzed by witnessing the destruction of another tank were always the first ones to join them in death. The shot penetrated the tank destroyer's armor and the Jagdpanther let out a pained scream before quickly starting to move, vanishing behind a corner.

It was time for Eject to move as well, and he started hurrying down the lane southwards in hopes of being able to circle the tank destroyer. Before reaching the intersection, he stopped to peek around the corner in case someone was waiting there. He was right. He caught a glance of another tank destroyer lying in wait and quickly reversed a bit. Those weren't from his team, so what the hell were they doing here?

"Sky! My radio is broken!"  
Eohelm had to stop for a moment to avoid getting shot another time. He had taken a couple more hits in the meantime but was still in a much better shape than his team mate. They were circling the heavy now, but he was undeterred by this as well as by his damage and seemed intent on taking out the Centurion first.  
"You must tell the others!"

The Pershing was on the opposite side of the tank between them, pumping shot after shot into the T-150 but only with mediocre results. As all three of them were moving, it was hard to aim properly, but not impossible. Yet, despite the fact that almost every shell penetrated the armor and that he was starting to resemble a piece of Swiss cheese, he simply refused to die, which was getting ridiculous at this point. It was obvious though that he wouldn't make it much longer, his movements and reload getting noticeably slower.

"Gotcha!" she replied and nearly wounded Eohelm as one of her shots just completely went through the heavy but luckily then bounced off the other medium's armor. That finally seemed to be effective, slowing the T-150 down even further. He started reeling and his next shot missed Eohelm by far.

«Guys, listen the fuck up! Eohelm's radio is fubar'd and we need everyone's status!»

Eject slowly reversed and took cover inside the skeletal remains of one of the buildings' frameworks. He couldn't go any further, but he also didn't want to wait until the Jagdpanther decided to come back and attempt another kill. What he wanted even less was the two tank destroyers coming at him from opposite directions.  
«Eject here. I'm at H7. Ferdinand at H6, Jagdpanther at H8. I don't know where they came from, but they just killed the Indien-Panzer. I could use some help here.»

Fox and Rex had managed to untangle their cannons in the meantime. The fact that the T34 wasn't back and firing at them yet probably meant that he was still hidden somewhere in or around the central square, and at first the idea had been that they'd both go there and look for him, but it seemed like one of them would have to stay behind to assist Eject instead.

«AT is dead, we were going to pursue the T34 next» Fox said. In fact they were already on the way down the lane to the west entrance of the square.

Sky relayed the messages to the Centurion. The T-150 had finally stopped, engine stalling. His turret slowly moved to aim another shot at Eohelm – it made a sickly grinding noise- but both of the mediums just kept shooting until nothing moved at all anymore. Sky stared at the wreck, mildly disturbed by how sturdy this tank had been. Well, some were gifted.

The Centurion then moved over to Sky, thinking for a moment about the situation before he gave new orders. Only the G.W. Panther and the T34 were left, which was good, but the fact that strangers had appeared as well and had nailed down Eject was concerning to say the least.

«One of you has to go back and assist Eject; are there any news on what happened to Nordic?» Sky broadcasted the other medium's message to the team.

«Negative» Eject answered, and after a moment Fox responded as well.  
«I'm on my way.»

Fuel was starting to coat the ground underneath him. One of the fuel lines must have been damaged by the SPGs shot, as the Gasoline was leaking out freely. The Hellcat kept slipping in and out of conscience, vents heaving. He had to stay awake…had to complete the mission…

He suddenly noticed noise, dull and muted like it was far away. However, it seemed to approach quickly…was that laughter? He was probably imagining things, but rolled forward a little bit to look around the corner. Seeing only stars at first, he then recognized the unmistakable chassis of the G.W. Panther speeding towards his position. But it wasn't her who was laughing. Didn't matter. He knew that he wouldn't get another chance if he didn't use this one to kill her.

With great difficulty he aligned his turret, his cannon focusing on the spot where she would pass him by in a moment.

As a flash of grey and brown flew past him, he fired. His reaction was too slow, however. He missed the Panther but something else was hit.  
Siren - true to his name - screeched as out of nowhere, a shell hit and tracked him. He lost control over where he was going, and other than the SPG in front of him, didn't manage to take the bend ahead of him, crashing into the buildings instead. That knocked him out, but despite the fact that his hull and cannon had been reduced to a smoking mess of deformed scrap metal, he was still alive.

The G.W. Panther had of course witnessed the accident and stopped. Turning around and returning to the crash site, she looked at the wrecked E-25; then her gaze fell on Nordic. He stared back at her, knowing that she was going to finish what she had started earlier now that she had found him. Her gun was loaded and pointed at him.  
What he wasn't aware of was the fact that she knew something the others hadn't found out yet - that all of her allies were already dead. Then, something unexpected happened. She turned towards the E-25 again.

Saying nothing, she fired a shot into the tank destroyer's backside. After giving Nordic another last look, she then continued driving down the hill, but with no sign of haste this time.

All of a sudden, the radio was silent. After Fang had unexpectedly run into someone, Tate had been waiting for the T29 to walk into their hastily assembled trap; but it wasn't happening. Siren had been broadcasting his own little adventure over the radio – as he loved to do. But then there had been an earsplitting scream, a crash, and gunfire. His end had gone silent afterwards.

The Ferdinand allowed himself to be distracted from the current situation as he strained to listen into the deathly silence. He was waiting for even the slightest hint of a noise – _anything_ – but the seconds passed and nothing happened. Surely, the E-25 would report back at any moment now. It wasn't like him to be quiet for long.

«Tate…!» Fang called, being the first one to lose his nerve. His voice sounded alarmed. The addressed tank destroyer had to remind himself to stay calm. This wasn't the first time that one of them was in trouble, and they had always managed to get out of it somehow. However, this also wasn't like the other times. He had the uneasy feeling that the worst might have had happened.

«_I know!_» he replied in a harsher tone than intended. There was no way they could help their brother right now; that is, if he was still alive. Tate tried not to jump to conclusions. For all they knew, Siren might have just been knocked out or his radio could be broken. Still, they had to get out of here first before attempting anything else.

«I'm going to distract the T29, you shoot him from behind so I can escape and then follow me. We'll meet outside the town» he ordered, and silenced the Jagdpanther's upcoming protest. «_Now!_»

Everything from that point on just felt unreal. It was definitely real, but it felt like he was standing on the side and watching himself as he turned the corner and saw the T29 facing him. He shot at the same time the other tank did, the heavy's shot bounced off the Ferdinand's front armor; he barely felt it. Tate's shell however broke through the other's plating, and just as intended, made him back up. He didn't wait for the Jagdpanther to fire but instead turned around to make his escape. From the corner of his optics, he saw the muzzle flash and heard the T29 groan. That meant the shot hadn't killed him. That was bad. Everything in him urged him to turn back, but he knew that if he didn't hurry now, he'd give the heavy a chance to shoot him while he was still facing away from him.

On the radio, Fang kept cursing, saying how he had told that idiot that Himmelsdorf was a bad idea, how he should have listened to him. Tate only focused on the street ahead of him. He had to reach that bend. Just as he reached it and sped across the square, he heard the other tank destroyer cry out. He did not stop.

Debris crunched underneath Rex' treads as he approached the east entrance in a leisurely pace. There was no need to be overly careful. A tier 5 medium wasn't the greatest of threats to him and literally none of the traitors was left on this side of the town other than him. Through broken windows, he got impressions of the central square, but nothing was moving there. A wreck here, a crater there - the T34 was probably hiding or had run somewhere else. If he was smart, that is. But The VK wouldn't bet on it.

"Come out…!" he called gently, "I promiss it will only hurrt a bit."

As he finally reached the entrance, he suddenly realized something. The T34 had been here the whole time; he hadn't recognized the destroyed tank at first because he had expected to find his team mate alive.

There was a disappointed growl from his engine as he reported the medium as dead.


	24. Consequences

The Ferdinand disappeared out of Eject's sight, and he spun his turret around to face the other tank destroyer that had attacked him. His previous prediction had come true, and it would have been funny if he hadn't been in so much pain right now. He didn't turn around fully yet in case his first attacker tried to return. The Jagdpanther behind him had been shot in the side, which meant that Fox must have finally arrived. He couldn't yet see him because there was a building corner between them, but he assumed that he was in hearing distance already.

"About time!" Eject shouted with another groan. One of the tank destroyer's tracks had been broken by the shot, and he – faced with two enemies at once now - desperately tried to reverse but only succeeded in unwinding it as he turned in a small half-circle instead of going anywhere. He couldn't quite direct his cannon at the King Tiger, and the fact that said King Tiger's gun was pointed right at him made him hesitant about trying to shoot Eject again.

"I'm going to kill every single one of you" Fang snarled, despite knowing that right now he wasn't in a position to do so at all.

Fox completely ignored the threat. "I'm a tank, not an express train" he said calmly in response to Eject's statement; then he commed the others. "I'm aiming at the Jagdpanther's ammo rack. Now would be a good time to tell me if you want him alive."

It took a moment until Eohelm had been able to tell Sky what to reply. «Don't kill him, he might be useful» she said. The two mediums were already on their way, picking up Rex while they were at it.

"Shoot him." Another voice spoke up, and Eject's gaze darted to the hill, where the G.W. Panther had suddenly appeared. He saw the tank destroyer tense up. The SPG's gun barrel was raised however, showing that she herself had no intention of shooting anyone nearby. Not that Fang would have been able to see that. Eject pointed his cannon at her anyway. There was more than one question that he would have liked to ask the G.W. Panther, but he remembered his original intent and decided to ask the most relevant question first.

"Where is Nordic?"

The G.W. Panther nodded at the direction she had come from. "He's up there. He's still alive but he'll need repairs if you want it to stay that way" she replied tonelessly.

Fox heard his team mates approach behind him. The east must have been clear, but it was a good idea to make sure, which was why he decided to ask a question as well. He addressed the tank destroyer.

"Are there more of you?" he asked, earning a hateful clutch grind but no response.

Once again it was the G.W. Panther who replied. She gave the tank destroyer a scornful look. "I took care of another one." Eject nodded. He noticed the slightest shift in the Jagdpanther's posture. He seemed to slump down, looking much more defeated than he had before. The T29 rolled further towards the crossing; now he was able to see the King Tiger as well as the two mediums and Rex who had finally arrived in the meantime.

Fox continued his interrogation undeterred. "Any others?"

Fang dropped his gaze to the ground. He kept silent for a moment longer until he eventually replied. His voice was trembling with subdued anger and hurt. "No. Only the three of us."

"A platoon. That makes sense" Eohelm added. He casted a glance at the assembled tanks before focusing on the stranger again. "Radio your comrade. I want to have a word with him."

Tate repeated himself for what felt like the hundredth time.  
"Siren. Report."  
"…..Fang. Report…"  
The radio remained silent.

He called again and would have been pacing up and down, but felt like the power had been drained from him. Fang hadn't made it. They had been supposed to meet outside the town, but he hadn't shown up and his end of the radio was quiet. Nausea was welling up inside him. He had lost soldiers before, but this was different. Never had it affected him this deeply.

The Ferdinand couldn't help but blame himself for this. He should have stayed. Should have told his brother to flee first. He paused in his distraught thoughts to stare at the town. His mind was made up; if Fang didn't appear in the next ten minutes, he would go back in there no matter what awaited him.

He waited; every second that passed felt like an hour. Just as he was about to go through with his decision, the radio line came to life.

«Tate…it's me. They got me.»

He couldn't possibly put his relief into words. Fang sounded so apologetic and crestfallen, but the Ferdinand didn't feel even the slightest hint of anger. The most important thing to him was that his protégé was alive. But Fang's next words felt like a shot to the fuel tanks.

«Also, Siren is dead. I'm sorry.»  
The feeling of sickness returned full force, and Tate tried his best not to let it show as he responded. These were dire news, but at least they still had each other. They'd figure something out. They'd get him out of there, somehow.  
"Where are you? Don't worry, we'll-" he began to say, but got interrupted by a voice he didn't recognize.

Inside Himmelsdorf, Eohelm had driven up to the intruder's side, basically hijacking his radio as they continued to hold him at gunpoint.  
"This is Eohelm speaking. I am the tactician of this team. Identify yourself."  
«Generalfeldmarschall Weidner. You are holding one of my men hostage.»  
"That is correct. You invaded our base at the worst possible time, completely destroyed our plans and endangered my team mates' lives in the process. Anything you have to say in your defense?"

There was a small pause. The tank destroyer Eohelm was speaking to was obviously thinking about what to say. And if he wasn't an idiot, he would think about it well.

«I apologize for our opportunistic behavior and promise that we will not harass you any further. Just let my soldier go. Please.»

Eohelm looked at his team mates before he replied. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting. Maybe some elaborate and reasonable explanation what the hell they had been thinking when they had rushed into the middle of a battle that wasn't even theirs.

"My team will have to deliberate on this. We will contact you once again once we have made a decision."

The Centurion hung up and Tate couldn't do anything but anxiously wait for the promised follow-up call. He had no idea about this team's policies or what they were capable of. For all he knew, they could decide to kill his other brother as well in retaliation for their interference.

At least it didn't take very long until Eohelm got in touch with him again.

«An apology will not do. We could have died because of you.» The Centurion's stern voice gave no indication of the discussion's results, much to Tate's despair. His distress started to show in his voice.  
"I don't know how to make it up to you. We have no base and no possessions."  
«Well, we need every gun we can get right now. If you travel with us we will spare your platoon mate's life.»

The Ferdinand didn't even need time to consider the offer. The unspoken 'or else' was enough to convince him. Eohelm spoke again.

«Do you accept these conditions?» he asked. Tate responded at once.  
"I do."  
«Good» Eohelm said, «We will escort him to the town's borders where you will wait for further instructions. There's something else we need to take care of first.»

The Centurion told their hostage to cut off communication and turned towards the quiet G.W. Panther.

Fox had volunteered to tow the injured Jagdpanther outside the town with Rex joining him in case the strangers decided to attempt something stupid, while Sky went to retrieve their own tank destroyer. The G.W. Panther had moved as well, making space for Sky. The SPG slowly rolled down from the hill and faced the remaining tanks.

"I suppose it's time for my trial?" she asked in a conversational tone.  
Eject nodded towards the road he came from. "We'll do it at the garage spaces" he said, and then - giving Eohelm a quick look - added, "If that's alright with everyone."

The addressed Centurion nodded thoughtfully. "We might as well. Ladies first."

The trip to the garages was a long one, and it was done in complete silence. Naturally, the G.W. Panther had to go first, closely followed by her two team mates. She stopped as she had crossed the square almost entirely, turning her back towards the rails and watching the others with an unreadable expression. Eject and Eohelm stopped in quite some distance, next to each other. There wasn't really a need for any more of their team mates (especially since most of them were dead now), so it was going to be the two of them doing the trial.

Sky drove up the hill, looking left and right. She wasn't going quite as fast as she could, since she didn't know where exactly she had to look for the Hellcat. The first thing she spotted was a smoking hole in the walls to her right, and for a moment she thought that she had found what she was looking for. But what she saw didn't look good at all. Hadn't the SPG said that Nordic was supposed to be still alive? Because what she saw here was a freaking mess. "Crap….," she mumbled as she was about to go in there and try to save what could be saved when she heard weak, spluttering engine noises from another direction.

She spun around; a bit further up the hill, caught a glimpse of a glacis plate, half hidden inside a destroyed doorway. Immediately, she hurried over there, and yes, that looked a lot more like Nordic. He didn't move, so she assumed that he was unconscious. Judging by the amount of spilled fuel everywhere it also wasn't a mystery why he would have passed out.

"Guys, I found him. And he looks fucking awful, I think his engine is damaged or something" she radioed the others, and got a reply instantly.  
«Is he fit for transport?» Eject asked.  
"He'll have to be" she gave back.  
«Alright, if you can, get him to our fuel depot and have him refuel, we'll have to figure something out later.»  
"Roger that" she replied and moved over to the Hellcat to give him a little lift.

As she was about to leave with the tank destroyer in tow, she thought that she heard something like a groan from the other crashed vehicle behind them, but decided that she must have imagined it.

"Before we start this…I have one last question for you" Eject said.  
"Go ahead" the SPG replied, sounding almost smug; as if she somehow thought that she was going to win this trial. It earned her a dark look as he went on.  
"Are you happy now? Was it really worth it?"  
The Panther gave a small cannon shrug. "It could have worked, but I guess it wasn't supposed to be."  
"'Wasn't supposed to be?'" Eject echoed, "Did you think that you would have survived with half of a team?"

The Panther gave him a long glance before she answered. "Will _you?_" she asked with a passionless smile.

He didn't bother answering the question and instead looked at Eohelm, who immediately begun the trial.

"According to the rules, you are found guilty of the following offenses" - he made a small pause before reciting them – "Conspiracy against your team, attempted team kill, deliberate team damage, incitement to team damage, incitement to team kill. Normally, because of the number of offenses, your punishment would be execution. However, the fact that you did not actually kill anyone and your surrender are considered a mitigating circumstance." It was obvious that Eohelm did not see it as such, but he also did not approve of vigilantism.  
"Therefore, you may choose. If you repent of your crimes, you will be marked as a team killer and exiled instead. The choice is yours."

The G.W. Panther kept silent for a moment. She looked at the present tanks, then past them. The sun was slowly rising past the rooftops, as it always did. She had always wondered how it never seemed to care what happened beneath it. It just shone on undeterred, untouchable and full of pride. It had mystified her in the past, but right now she felt like she could relate. For a moment, she felt like the sun itself.

"I know that I caused unnecessary bloodshed and suffering, but everything I did I did in good conscience and I would do it again" she said while smiling at the pale morning sun one last time before turning her back towards it and the others.

"I choose execution."


	25. A New Beginning

**_[The character cheat sheet was updated after this chapter! You can check my profile to find the new post-fight version. c: ]_**

Driving towards the town's borders silently, they heard gunshots behind them. It was finally over, then. But now the silence started to seem overbearing. The mood was of course subdued, however Fox figured that he might as well use the time they had while driving to get to know their new involuntary team mate. After all they'd have to get along somewhat at least in the future. He turned his turret around to look at the Jagdpanther. Being dragged along with only one track was more than uncomfortable. Fox wasn't a stranger to this feeling. Which didn't mean that he felt particularly sorry for the tank destroyer that was glaring at him, however.

"So, what's your name?" From the corner of his optics, the King Tiger caught a disgruntled side glance from Rex, who obviously had no intentions of making friends right now. It also probably was the most generic and awkward conversation starter too, but Fox wasn't trying to win a smoothness prize.

As it had to be expected, the Jagdpanther still was the opposite of talkative. He looked away.  
"No name?" Fox prodded.  
"Watch where you're driving" was the gruff response.  
Fox turned around again, thinking that he had inspired this response by being about to drive into something. But the street was perfectly clear, no building corners or other obstacles anywhere in his way.  
He faced the Jagdpanther again. "Well, 'Watch Where You're Driving', we don't have to be friends, but that attitude's not going to get you anywhere."

Rex intervened with an exasperated growl.  
"Why do you boffer? Der's 'n Arschloch" the VK scoffed without even looking back. The Jagdpanther's engine revved in anger and Fox turned to look at Rex for a moment before he returned to looking into the direction he was going.  
"Oh, I think he understood that" the King Tiger said in a mildly amused tone and Rex simply shrugged.

Meanwhile inside the town, they had started clearing the square of the wrecks. They were only taking care of the garage lot for now, and it was going to stay that way since their intention was only to make their remaining time in Himmelsdorf somewhat pleasant without having to look at their ex-team mates' corpses constantly. A cosmetic measure, really.  
Eohelm's engine roared as he invested all of his strength into turning the dead G.W. Panther around.  
"Where do we put them anyway?" he asked short-windedly. Eject was steering Axis – who had been the first one to die – towards the TD's former garage. "Just put her in there too" Eject panted and gestured towards said garage space.  
The Centurion seemed to think about this for a moment. It was a bit macabre, all things considered, but then again he couldn't think of anything that _wasn't_. With a shrug he waited for Eject to stow away the first wreck before he followed suit. Halfway however, Eohelm's engine suddenly stalled. It only lasted for a moment, but it was enough to cause a pained wheeze.

Eject gave him a surprised and concerned look. "Are you alright?" he asked and immediately drove up to the other's side.  
"Yeah-…yeah, I'm fine" Eohelm replied, sounding far from alright but he returned to his previous task at once. "T-150 must have hit me harder than I thought" he added in a mumbled tone. Eject shook his turret and helped his team mate with pushing.  
"We'll have to get you repaired" he said, earning a shrug from the Centurion.  
"Right now Nordic is more important. I'll survive. He needs help more than I do."

Once they had deposited her as well, they closed the garage door. Whoever would claim the town next would be in for a morbid surprise.

"Actually we could all use some fixing. Let's be honest, no one here's in a good shape" Eject thought out loud with a frown, and Eohelm nodded. The thought remained without consequences, as only a moment later Sky appeared on the street behind them. She was still towing the injured Hellcat. They turned around and met her halfway. Two concerned gazes fell on the unconscious tank destroyer. Then on the trail of oil and fuel behind him. All in all, he could have looked worse, but he still looked incredibly bad.

"Tried refueling him, but it just comes out on the other end again" Sky growled, gesturing towards the trail. There was a moment of glum silence, and no one really needed to say out loud that their team mate's chances of survival were slim if they weren't able to figure something out soon. Eject raised his glance thoughtfully. He then turned to the Pershing.  
"It should be safe for your friends to come out now. We don't need your help here for now" he said. Sky nodded and released the Hellcat. "So I guess you won't stay here for much longer?" she assumed and turned to leave.  
Eohelm shook his turret. "Other teams will soon notice that something happened here. We won't be able to hold the town anymore…I give us a couple of days, but then we'll have to move on."  
"Do you want us to come with you?" the Pershing asked.  
Eject spoke up. "The low tiers will have to work hard and get stronger quickly. They won't stand a chance if we run into someone otherwise."  
"I know" Sky replied before she left.


	26. Making Friends

"A Ferdinand?" Fox asked, "Haven't seen any of you in a while." They had finally reached the agreed on place. As it had to be expected, the tank destroyer they met there wasn't in the best of moods either, but he seemed a lot less confrontational than the Jagdpanther at least. Said Jagdpanther had been deposited off to the side, where he wasn't in the way. He and Tate hadn't really gotten a chance for a proper reunion yet, but they exchanged a silent look.  
"Well-" Tate started in a rather stoic tone, but Rex started talking at almost exactly the same time, causing the Ferdinand to fall silent.  
"I hearrd it's because dhere enginns suck" the heavy said, then turned to look at Tate. "Iss dhat true, Ferrdi?" he asked.

The addressed tank destroyer's posture changed to a slightly defensive one at once. "The name's Herr Weidner" he replied distantly. Rex snorted.  
"Herr Weidner? I'm Herr Rex" he grinned, "And dhis is Herr Fochs." He pointed at the King Tiger next to him. Tate understood that he was being made fun of, but he abstained from returning it in any way. He looked at Fang, who seemed offended on his behalf and gave him a soothing nod. This wasn't the time or the place to start another fight. Especially not with his brother being as immobile as he was.

"You didn't mention that you tracked him" the Ferdinand said thoughtfully. Fox shrugged. "I could have killed him instead if you preferred that?"

Again Tate chose to stay calm. He hoped that they were only being this cranky because of what happened in the town, otherwise he probably would have to start making escape plans soon. Instead he tried to carry on with the conversation.  
"No. What is going to happen now?" he asked and for once received a proper answer.  
"We wait" Fox said matter-of-factly.


	27. Return

Sky herself found it quite difficult to find the place again where she had hidden the rest of the tanking league. She made her way to the scarcely wooded area outside of the town, hoping that no one else had found the place either. Eventually she recognized the surroundings and purposefully advanced until she found the overhanging rock. It was covered well by bushes, shielding it from curious looks of anyone who passed by obliviously.

"I'm back!" she announced herself before entering the small den. All three of the lower tiers were apparently napping, however in a quite weird arrangement. Both of the SPGs were facing her, but wedged in between them and facing to the right was Noob. It looked like they had made sure that he wasn't able to run away.

"_Hey_" the Pershing said a bit louder, and finally her team mates were startled awake.  
"Sky! You're alright!" Awol cried out, and Noob looked relieved as well.  
"What happened? Is everyone okay?" the Leichttraktor asked.  
Arty piped up as well. "We heard shots and Noob wanted to go warn you but we held him back because you said we had to stay."

Sky nodded and looked at the three of them. She backed up a little. "A fight broke out but it's over now and it's safe for you to come out."  
They didn't hesitate and followed her outside. After all being confined to such a small space had become boring ages ago. She noticed that Awol was giving her concerned looks, probably he was looking for any new damage on her.

"A fight?" Noob asked and gave both Awol and Arty a sulky look.  
"There were fucking traitors in the team. They attacked at sunrise and we would have been able to handle it, but then a pack of tank destroyers appeared out of nowhere and things got chaotic as hell" Sky explained in a dark voice, "In the end we won but not everyone got out of it unscathed."

It occurred to Noob that they probably wouldn't have been able to help at all, and he dropped his cannon after a brief nod. Both Arty and Awol got an uneasy feeling as well and they kept silent afterwards. With nothing left to say on the subject they formed a line and made their way back towards Himmelsdorf.

To shorten the wait, Fox and Rex had started fooling around. After their attempts to figure out who could shoot farther had failed once they had started shooting too far to see the impact, they were now looking for other past times. It didn't take long until they started ramming into buildings to see who could cause more destruction in a single run-up. And then, without a run-up.

Tate watched them with a frown. Was this how the youths spent their spare time nowadays?

"Just give up already" Fox chuckled, "You know you can't win. My engine is stronger than yours." Rex glared at him.  
"_Unsinn!_ I bett you can't mayk dhe beelding over dhere collapse" he huffed. The King Tiger looked to his left and chuckled again. "That one? No problem" he said, confident of success. He turned around and easily completed the task. Rex gave a frustrated growl and they ended up giving each other more and more absurd challenges. In the end, they were simply only breaking down the buildings and running over things for no particular reason other than the fact that it was fun.

It went on for several minutes. At one point, they got caught in the crash. Debris rained down on them and the two heavies started laughing about their mishap.

"Oh god, I'm stuck" Fox chortled; only his cannon was visible. Rex had managed to wiggle himself free and laughed at the King Tiger. However, their merriness got interrupted. There was a loud snarl, and Tate knew what was up immediately. Some of the debris had also hit Fang, which had apparently made him reach a boiling point.

"_You fucking imbe-_" he started to shout, but Rex cut him off.  
"Shhhhhhh." He drove up to the Jagdpanther's side, cannon facing backwards and hovering next to the tank destroyer's.  
"Shhh. You need to shut dhe hell up" the heavy said.  
"Or maybe just relax a little" Fox added as he finally managed to crawl out from under the rubble. He turned to Tate. "Is he always like this?" he asked the Ferdinand. Tate didn't answer right away. He could see why something falling on Fang would freak him out, and everyone who paid attention to the huge dent on the Jagdpanther's fighting compartment would probably be able to figure it out as well. Even the Ferdinand himself felt uneasy at the sight.

The air was suddenly filled by loud static noise, making everyone present twitch.  
"Dude, turn down the volume!" Fox yelled at his friend, who looked a little subdued as he did as he was told. "What the hell" the King Tiger continued, however at a lower volume himself. Rex left the Jadgpanther's side to join Fox instead. "Eeject mumbles" he explained with a somewhat defensive shrug of his cannon, then fell silent to listen again. The noise hadn't stopped, and Fox could hear the same from his radio. For a moment it seemed like there were fragments of a voice talking, but it was impossible to make out any words. Then the transmission ended altogether. The heavies looked at each other cluelessly. Had something happened? Before they could become seriously concerned, another transmission followed, this time it was clear of any static however.

«Sorry» Eject's voice said, «We're trying to get Eohelm's radio to work again.» There was a small pause, as the T29 probably glanced at his team mate. Fox used it to throw in a quick "Well keep trying." Eject's reply was deadpan.  
«I'm pretty sure he will» he said, and somewhere in the background, they could hear a distressed whine of sorts. «Anyway, you can bring them in now. We're done here.»

"Gotcha" Fox replied. He glanced at the two tank destroyers briefly and then turned to Rex.  
"Let's go" he said, and the two of them drove off at a casual speed.

Tate immediately drove over to the Jagdpanther and brushed the remaining rubble off his armor. At least he wasn't hurt. Seemed like it was his duty to tow him back inside the town (and everywhere else for a while).  
"Why can't we just kill them?" Fang asked, but both of them knew that it was more of a rhetorical question. "It's only for now" the Ferdinand said quietly and Fang sullenly averted his gaze. Tate then affixed the towrope to the other tank destroyer and set off to follow their new team mates.


	28. Preparations

They had all gathered at the south square. Some chatter was going on, but most optics were on the two newcomers. The tank destroyers had arrived almost at the same time as the tanking league, and there hadn't been a lot of time for talk. Instead they had curiously joined the rest of the team in welcoming their additional members.

Arty had ended up standing somewhat in the back, peeking through the gaps between the tanks in front of her. Next to her, she had heard Fox say something to Eject about Nordic and a fuel bath. She wasn't sure if she actually had been introduced to a Nordic, so she didn't know what was going on. What she gathered from the conversation she overheard was that he must have been hurt. But the information really didn't have much use to her. She paid attention to the main reason for the gathering instead now, following it with great interest. Those tank destroyers looked rugged. She couldn't help but notice the apparent lack of maintenance their hulls had seen. One of them sported only one track, but Arty made an educated guess that this had only happened during the fight.

"Did they really attack the town all on their own?" she asked Fox, wondering how strong (or reckless) those two must have been. The King Tiger turned to her and shook his cannon.  
"There were three of them, but we killed one" he explained and Arty nodded despite the fact that the question in her mind weren't really answered by that. Another bit of information that was kind of lost on her.

As she looked back at the strangers, she realized that she must have missed a bit of what was going on. Eohelm was standing next to them, and one of the tank destroyers – a Ferdinand, as Arty would later find out – introduced himself to the present tanks as 'Herr Weidner' and his companion as 'Fang'. The SPG made sure to remember the names, as she always did with everyone.

Eohelm proceeded to point his cannon at one of his team mates. "Rex is going to keep an optic on you" he said. The VK perked his gun up and spoke up brusquely. "Say wat? Hell no!"  
Eohelm sighed and corrected himself. "I will be keeping an optic on you. It would be great if we could make this as pleasant and civil as possible for everyone involved, so please if it's at all possible, don't start a fight or anything similar to that."  
The Ferdinand nodded and looked around, seeming a bit lost. "Where do we stay?" he asked eventually.  
"You can stay here at the garage spaces. You can use one of the empty ones to sleep. Or if you don't want to do that, there's also the train station. I can show it to you, if you want."  
The tank destroyer agreed and the crowd dispersed as the introduction seemed to be over.

Arty didn't really know what to do with herself now. She wandered around aimlessly for a while. Everyone else seemed to have things to do. From what she had gathered, they were going to leave soon, so probably they were packing their things. As for the rest of the tanking league…Awol had wandered off with Noob. Arty saw Sky nearby and decided to approach her, but before she could reach the Pershing, she saw how Eject started talking to her. Since she was in earshot, she heard that he asked Sky to go on guard since she apparently was the one who could see the farthest.  
"Also, one of our team mates should return from the clan wars soon. He's a Leopard 1, so don't shoot him if you see him" Eject added, and the medium nodded. Arty stopped and looked after Sky as she left, feeling a bit sad at the chance she missed to spend more time with her new team mates.

Now, Eject seemed to notice her and he gave her a brief glance. The Sturmpanzer unceremoniously changed her plans and drove over to the heavy instead.  
"Eject?" she said as she reached him.  
"Yes?"  
She hesitated for a moment, since her next question had sounded less out-of-nowhere in her mind, but continued anyway.  
"I was wondering if we could train some more?"  
He didn't answer right away, probably contemplating if he had anything more important to do, and then shrugged.  
"Why not" he said and they started making their way out of the town.  
"Anything in particular you want to work on?" the T29 asked, getting a drawn-out "Uh…" in response.  
"Everything, I guess?" Arty then said after a second thought. Eject chuckled, and the SPG could have sworn that this was the first time she saw him do that since she arrived in Himmelsdorf.  
"Not a bad idea" he said.

The exercise went slightly better for the Sturmpanzer than the last one. She wasn't sure why, so she figured she was just more lucky than last time. After an hour, they called it a day.  
"You need to anticipate your targets' movements more" Eject told her as they rested in the shadow of a tree. "You're doing fine with hitting stationary ones, but they won't always hold still for you."  
Arty dropped her gun barrel. "It's not easy" she mumbled. "Gun traverse and all…" She felt like she was making excuses and gave the other tank a sheepish side glance. "How am I supposed to know what they will do next?"  
Eject seemed to be occupied with watching something in the distance, but he answered. "It all comes with experience. Not only yours, too. In the lower tiers, no one knows what they're doing. You'll watch them, and they will do things that don't make sense because they don't have a plan. Later, in the higher tiers, they will be more…methodical. They'll have a plan, and if you can guess it you'll know where to aim. You'll be able to shoot blind because you'll recognize typical hiding places."

Arty nodded pensively. She hadn't thought of that, but it made sense. Now she followed his gaze, and noticed a moving shape against the horizon. "What's that?" she asked.  
"A scout" Eject replied with a frown. "Looks like other teams already noticed that something went down here. Another reason to leave. It's only gonna be a matter of days until they'll try making a move."  
"So when are we leaving?" Arty asked, turning towards the heavy tank again.  
His engine gave a thoughtful hum. "As soon as Pepper arrives, we'll go to Ruinberg. We have friends there. And then I guess we'll see what happens next."

They eventually returned to the garage lot, finding a still distressed Centurion there. He was half standing on a small pile of rubble, his cannon pointing at the ground at a weird angle.  
The look that Eject gave him carried a kind of forbearing sympathy.  
"Shouldn't you be getting ready?" he asked.

"If I tilt my hull like this and turn my turret this way, it kind of works…! At least it did for a moment, but I think I was holding my cannon slightly differently…." Eohelm mumbled, obviously implying that this was indeed a part of the preparations. He started moving his turret about again, trying to find the exact direction it had pointed when the radio had been working again for a split second.  
"I don't think there's a real correlation" Arty said soberly.  
That didn't stop the medium tank from continuing with his efforts anyway, although he gave the SPG an upset look. "I _need _my radio…! I won't survive the travel without it…!" he said.  
It didn't occur to Arty right away that his main concern was that he would be without any music to listen to while driving, so she nodded.  
"Makes sense" she hummed.

"Well, it was nice knowing you then" Eject deadpanned. The Centurion gave an unhappy puff but before he could reply, Arty spoke again.  
"What happened to your SPGs?" she asked with her cannon tilted. She hadn't seen the two anymore since they had returned to the town, but had been trying not to draw any conclusions already.  
"The M40 is MIA" Eject said and paused for a moment before he turned to Eohelm again. "Did someone go and look for him yet?" he asked. Eohelm shook his turret and flinched as his radio made a noise. He returned to his previous position, but the radio remained silent this time.  
"I can do that later" the medium said. "I think Nordic was right about the vacation, though. Otherwise he would have contacted us already."

Both tanks fell silent for a moment as they thought the same thing. 'On vacation' in this case was most likely synonymous with 'dead', but they didn't feel the urge to say that out loud.

Arty gave both of them a look, expecting them to continue talking instead of just staring at the ground thoughtfully. She decided to give them a nudge. "What about the G.W. Panther?" she asked, but felt like she didn't actually want to know the answer.  
"She was leading the traitors. We had to shoot her" Eohelm said; his tone had turned much more serious.

The Sturmpanzer felt a touch of melancholy. Despite the fact that she had gotten nothing but a few hostile looks from the G.W. Panther in the short time Arty had spent in Himmelsdorf, she had felt an instant kinship at the sight of the higher tier German SPG. After all, she had been what the Sturmpanzer aspired to be one day. Hearing now that she had been executed as a team killer, even leading the revolt…it hit a little bit too close to home. Not to mention that she was almost sure that she had heard at least a small undertone of resentment in the Centurion's voice.

The Sturmpanzer tried not to let it show and nodded quickly. "I see. Thank you for helping me with the training, Eject" she said and turned to leave in somewhat of a hurry to get away and find something to lighten her mood.


	29. The Returnee

_[[Sorry for the long delay...I'm a procrastinator. =u= Enjoy!]]_

Arty knew that driving off on her own wasn't the best idea, but she felt like she could use the fresh air. She wished she had had the idea sooner, since loafing around for the rest of the day and generally avoiding everyone hadn't done much to cheer her up. Eventually she had gotten tired of staring at the buildings surrounding her and decided that she wanted to go on a drive.

It took her a while to reach the borders of the town. She hadn't expected to meet anyone, since most of them were busy inside Himmelsdorf, which caused her to be even more surprised when she saw someone ahead of her, leaving the town as well. On a second glance, she recognized the silhouette of the Wespe. They had had some time to talk while they had been hiding together with Noob, however the mood had been rather tense thanks to the circumstances. Seeing as Awol was a fellow SPG, she felt that talking to him again now could possibly lift her spirits.

It turned out that he had been trying to get away from everything for a bit as well, and so they ended up driving together and took their minds off things with casual conversation.

They were following a road that was concealed by a thicket of trees and bushes on both sides, enjoying the less caged feeling outside of the town. It had started feeling more like a tomb to them anyway, especially after the fight that had happened, and it was nice to have some cool evening air blow through their vents.  
"I _love _when that happens" Arty grinned, and it earned her a delighted look from the other SPG.  
"Oh boy, me too!" he said, beaming at her.  
"I'm like….YEAH I totally did that on purpose! I didn't miss the other guy, I totally KNEW that _you_ were hiding there! Bet you didn't see that coming! Fear me!"  
Awol started laughing and she joined in, the uneasiness she had felt earlier already forgotten. They stopped as a wide, open field unrolled before them. Despite the late hour, it was perfectly illuminated by the rising moon. Not a good place for them to be.  
"We should go back" Awol said, sounding more serious again. They had already wandered off pretty far, and they were aware that it wasn't the safest thing for them to do, but had gotten quite carried away by their conversation.

Arty nodded, but before they could turn around she suddenly noticed movement down the road. She froze, which earned her a confused (and slightly worried) look from the other SPG, but then he saw it too. The tank was coming right at them at high speed.

"Quick! Hide!" Awol said and reversed behind the bushes to the side of the road. Arty followed him at once. There was a chance that the stranger hadn't seen them yet, and they ducked anxiously. The tank reached them in a matter of seconds…and tore past them. They could barely follow the flash of dark grey and white with their sights. But it was clear that this stranger was racing towards Himmelsdorf. They looked after the unknown tank in alarm.

"What was that?" Arty asked.  
Awol shook his cannon cluelessly. "I don't know!"  
"We need to tell the others!"  
The Wespe nodded but didn't do anything. After a moment of both of them waiting for the other SPG to start the call, Arty eventually did it.

Eohelm looked shocked.  
"What do you mean 'that never happened'?" he asked. Tate tilted his cannon, but not in an apologetic way. They had spent the day in the train station, with the Centurion checking up on them every once in a while. It wasn't like they had had any conversations, but this time Eohelm hadn't been able to help but notice a military insignia on the Ferdinand. It was so weathered that it was barely visible, but being quite well-versed in historical things, Eohelm had of course recognized it and it had sparked his interest at once. After a short conversation with very reluctant and partly cryptic answers from the Ferdinand, Eohelm had learned two things. Firstly, that this tank destroyer had apparently actually been part of the unit whose insignia he was wearing – which was a little historical sensation to the Centurion -, and secondly, that almost everything he had heard about them had been rumours.

"I see…" he eventually said, but this marked the end of their conversation as someone called Eohelm's name. He turned his turret around and saw Fox enter the train station in a hurry. Frowning with sudden concern, he asked what was wrong.  
"There's a tank approaching the town" the King Tiger said, "We don't know what type. We're gonna receive him at the eastward road."  
Eohelm nodded and turned around completely to follow the heavy tank, leaving the two tank destroyers behind without much of a goodbye.

"Could it be Pepper?" the Centurion asked as he drove next to his team mate. Fox shrugged.  
"The SPGs saw it, but they said he looked American."  
Eohelm considered that bit of information for a moment.  
"Well, he's a Leopard now, isn't he? I could see how they could have confused him for an American tank."  
"Yeah, but we're not taking any risks" Fox replied. It was unlikely that a single tank could take them all on if they were prepared, but even losing _one_ of their guns or one of them being wounded wasn't something they wanted to happen.  
"Have you tried contacting him?" the Centurion then asked.  
Fox waved his cannon. "So far no answer. Rex is trying all the frequencies we can think of, but we only picked up some static. Maybe something is messing up the signal. Could be that tank's engine, if he's really going as fast as they said. Sky will try to intercept and get a glimpse." Eohelm nodded and focused on the road again.

Rex and Eject were already waiting at the town border, and all of them took positions, ready to shoot whatever would show up on the hillcrest. Noob was sitting next to them too - looking a little out of place, but they appreciated the sentiment. (There had of course been an obligatory 'He can be the decoy' joke.) Arty and Awol had radioed in that they were aiming at the approaching stranger too and had been able to give their team mates an approximate ETA of the unknown vehicle. As the minutes passed, the tension rose and the waiting tanks gave each other brief glances. Finally, they heard the roar of an approaching tank's engine. The SPGs hadn't exaggerated; this guy really was in a hurry and obviously didn't worry about being sneaky.

Moments before they could see him, Sky reported.  
«It's a Leopard!»  
Everyone slumped noticeably in relief. Eject gave a small cannon nod and they came out from their firing positions to await their team mate on the street.

He showed up a few moments later and was obviously surprised to see a welcoming committee.

Hitting the brakes hard, the Leopard stopped just before he crashed into them. He definitely would need some more time to get used to this new body…  
"Oh hey" he said, sounding a little flustered and out of breath as he looked at his assembled team mates who in return were giving him curious looks. For a moment there was silence, until Eohelm spoke up.  
"Pepper?" he asked cautiously.  
The addressed medium nodded quickly. "Yes, I'm back" he said, "I came as quickly as I could…"

"You caused quite the commotion" Fox said, "If the arty hadn't warned us that someone was approaching, this could have ended ugly." With a shrug he added, "We're all a little twitchy at the moment."

"What's wrong with your radio?" Eject asked. His disgruntlement with the inconvenience caused by the Leopard not responding to their calls was obvious. Pepper's turret twitched.  
"What do you mean?" he asked in surprise.  
"We tried to call you multiple times just earlier but you didn't answer. Normally, the thing I do when I see a tank charging at the base is shoot him on sight" the T29 grumbled. Pepper still looked puzzled. "It worked fine the last time I tried…?" He looked around quickly. "Can someone try to call me? It's still the same old frequency I always use!"  
Everyone tried at once, and it resulted in a whole lot of static noise. The Leopard frowned. "Dammit…!"  
"Maybe something got knocked loose during your drive" Eohelm suggested, perfectly hiding what a sensitive topic broken radios were for him at the moment. Before Pepper could answer, he got rammed in the side by Rex. The Leopard wheezed, while the rest of the team looked on in utter surprise.  
"Fixed it?" Rex asked, and as he heard his own voice on Pepper's radio, grinned. "Fixed it." he repeated, sounding utterly satisfied with himself. The medium looked wistfully at what had been his brand new camouflage paint.  
"Ow…Thanks…I guess" he mumbled. The VK 45.02 had already turned around and was now looking at Eohelm, who of course could sense the other's idea and backed up immediately.  
"That won't work, I tried…!" he said quickly and Rex turned away again with a disappointed sigh.

At that point, Sky arrived as well, driving up behind the Leopard and past him to join her new team members. Pepper gave the Pershing a curious glance.  
"You must be Sky?" he asked.  
She nodded. "Yeah. Hi."  
Now he also seemed to notice the Leichttraktor among them for the first time. "And you are?"  
"Noob" the light tank answered. Pepper gave him a puzzled look, not sure if he had just been insulted or…  
"What?"  
"It's my name" Noob said and grinned.  
The Leopard made a small "Oh" sound, and Eject spoke up again.  
"There's also two new SPGs, but they're still on their way back here. If you want to get glared at you can also go and meet the tank destroyers in the train station" he said sternly. All gazes fell on Pepper again, who only had one more question.  
"Are we going to leave right away?" he asked. He didn't mind either way, although allowing his engine to cool down for a little before going on another journey definitely sounded tempting.

Eject shook his cannon. "I would rather wait until early tomorrow. Before sunrise, maybe" he said, earning some agreeing nods from his team mates. With that, the T29 turned to leave and left the others to get re-acquaintanced and introduced.


	30. The Fox and the Wolf

As soon as Arty and Awol had returned as well, everyone got ready to rest for the night. With the upcoming journey it was in everyone's interest to be fit for a long drive then.

Pepper had moved into his old garage, but he was missing a certain familiar feeling that he had expected after returning after being gone for so long. It was only for tonight however, and so it probably didn't really matter. He made himself comfortable and was about to close the door and shut off the lights, when suddenly a grey muzzle appeared in the doorway. Pepper watched as a cannon barrel followed…quite a lot of cannon barrel. He recognized it quickly, and there was only one tank on their team he could think of who was wielding that gun. Finally, as the muzzle was already out of sight again, a bit of tank appeared too. Fox peeked inside curiously.  
"Hey, can I come in?"

The Leopard nodded. "Of course. What's the matter?"

Fox maneuvered himself and his gun inside the garage and Pepper backed up a little to make space for both of them. The King Tiger held back a small yawn. "I was hoping that you could fill me in on what happened after Rex and I left." His gaze fell on the other tank's clan insignia. He pointed at it. "Something went down? Or did you just miss me so much you had them paint my likeness on you?" he asked cheekily.  
Pepper frowned indignantly and shook his cannon. "Don't be silly!" He looked down on himself. "Besides, it's a _wolf_…The clan split up and everyone had to choose sides. It was rather ugly but at least it went over quickly. Things are still a bit unstable however…I don't know what's going to happen next."

"A shame that I'm not there anymore" Fox said wistfully, "Sounds like that would be pretty interesting."  
"Tedious, mostly" Pepper replied deadpan. The King Tiger shrugged.  
"You know, I'm kinda starting to miss the accommodations already…there's nothing like a cozy garage and proper meals…workshops…and the taverns…" he sighed and stretched his tracks as he dwelled on the memory of the more comfortable circumstances in the clan territories. In comparison to the rough and humble lifestyles the teams out here were forced to endure, the clans enjoyed pure luxury. Too bad that their territories were rigorously closed off from outsiders. And they also had an obligation towards their team that they had to fulfill.  
"Yeah…" Pepper agreed quietly.

Both of them fell silent for a moment until the Leopard eventually changed the subject.  
"I still can't believe the Panther went haywire" he growled and shook his cannon. She had never been very pleasant to be around, but that she would really go and betray her team? It was both infuriating and saddening.  
"Looks like she got what she wanted after all…" Fox said with a sigh. He didn't sound angry, just tired.  
"Huh?" Pepper gave him a confused look.  
"Well…" Fox said, "She hated it here. Never noticed?"  
Pepper looked to the ground thoughtfully. "I guess she did" he said slowly.  
The King Tiger continued.  
"Looks like in the time we were gone she got really hellbent on leaving. And that's exactly what we're doing now, isn't it?"  
The medium gave a spiteful huff through his vents.  
"Too bad for her that she didn't live to see it" he mumbled quietly.

This time, Fox actually yawned. "Oh well. Looks like it's time for me to get some sleep" he said and turned to leave. "Been a long day."  
"Alright, good night" Pepper replied.  
"You too."


	31. Departure

The sun had barely risen above the horizon when Tate heard someone approach the train station. He nudged his brother to wake him up and earned himself a confused and grumpy look, but before Fang could ask what the reason for the disturbance was, two tanks appeared in the gates. Tate had gotten to somewhat know Eohelm by now, but the only thing he knew about the T29 by his side was that he and Fang had both shot him during their encounter and that ever since he hadn't seemed all too fond of the two tank destroyers.

"Are you ready for a march?" the heavy tank asked sternly. It was most likely a rhetorical question.  
Tate frowned. "A march? Where are you taking us?"  
"Ruinberg" Eohelm answered promptly, which apparently disgruntled the T29, if the subtle twitch of his turret was any indicator. He probably hadn't intended to share that much information.  
The tank destroyer tilted his cannon inquisitively.  
"What are you hoping to find there?" he asked, his voice toneless.  
This time, Eject was fast enough to answer first.  
"That's none of your business" he said tersely.

Eohelm seemed to have lost his train of thought and he looked at his team mate as if hoping for any clue from the heavy.

Fang interrupted the silence, his tone matching the T29's in gruffness.  
"Anything else?" he asked.  
Eject looked at him directly. It was a custom that low tiers were taught early that when looking at someone, you should aim your gun away from them a little, but in this case the T29 was blatantly disregarding that rule.  
"We're leaving in ten minutes" he replied, "Make sure that you're…fit for transport until then."  
Fang returned the glare but said nothing.  
Eject simply turned to leave, and Eohelm quickly added a helpful "We're all meeting up at the North Square," before he followed his team mate.

Tate sighed and went about affixing the towing rope to the other tank destroyer.  
"Like in the good old times, huh?" he asked while working.  
Fang snorted. "They weren't good" he said curtly and looked away.

As they arrived at the North Square, the Ferdinand looked around quickly. Half of the present tanks looked like they were still half asleep while others were busy making last-minute preparations. They had brought a couple of carts filled with fuel crates; provisions for the journey. The Ferdinand hoped that the copious amounts of fuel his engines gobbled up wouldn't bring the team's wrath upon him.

The two tank destroyers drew quite a few looks on them, but that was to be expected. Tate spotted another medium tank that had apparently joined the team since the last time the Ferdinand had seen the outside of the train station. Or if the stranger had been there before, he hadn't seen him yet. But he doubted that the latter was the case, because he would have noticed him for sure. Mainly because he absolutely couldn't figure out what kind of model the grey-and-white medium was supposed to be; it was unlike anything he had seen before. Tate shook his cannon and redirected his attention to other things.

Eohelm was pleasantly surprised at how involved the Pershing was. She had offered her help with towing the injured Hellcat at once.  
"I suppose we could take turns in pulling him" he suggested. The Centurion turned towards Nordic again.  
"You have to stay awake if you can, alright?"  
The tank destroyer nodded weakly and Eohelm gave him a reassuring pat on the turret.  
"Don't worry; everything's going to be alright once we reach Ruinberg. They're gonna fix you and you'll be as good as new."

Both of the medium tanks perked their cannons up as they heard Eject announce their departure and the team started moving.

"How far is it to Ruinberg?" Sky asked.  
"About a hundred miles. Considering that we won't be able to go very fast, we should be there in about 8 hours…probably a bit more since we won't be taking the main roads."  
The Pershing nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, taking turns sounds like a good idea."


	32. Acid Test

"Ugh…"  
Noob looked around. He didn't know how far exactly Ruinberg was away, but if they were all going this slow it would take ages to get there. That was for sure. Not only was it boring as hell, but his treads had also started aching and his engine was tired and he had forgotten to refuel before they had departed. In short, everything about this travel sucked. His gaze fell on the two German heavies driving somewhere behind him, and he stopped to wait for them, then casually drove right in front of them while looking back with a mischievous tank-grin.

"Hey!" he said, and two turrets turned to face him. He looked at Rex. "Can you give me a lift?"

The VK exchanged a glance with Fox. "Wat? How?"  
"Well, your turret's in the back so I think I could ride on you" Noob replied in a cheeky tone. He was only joking around to entertain himself, but on the other hand if Rex said yes, he certainly would have embraced the opportunity to be lazy.  
Before Rex could answer, the other heavy shook his cannon in disbelief.  
"That's silly" Fox said.  
Rex nodded. "Yeah. You haff trracks, use dhem."

The Leichttraktor huffed disappointedly as he turned to face forwards again. "Fine" he said quietly and drove away to see if anyone else was more fun than those two.

They took the dirt roads off the more frequently used paths to avoid highwaymen, but their already slow advance soon got slowed down even further. The sky had gone dark with heavy rain clouds and their concerns as they looked up proved themselves true as they got caught in an outright deluge. In a matter of seconds, they were completely soaked and their trek had slowed to a crawl; a few hours later the ground was so swampy that their tracks started getting stuck.

"Just what we fucking needed!" Fox cursed over the noise of the pouring rain. His treads were spinning helplessly and only digging themselves deeper into the mud. Eject tried pulling while Rex tried shoving, but in the end the only thing they achieved was the VK getting stuck as well.

"It's no use! We'll have to stay for now!" Pepper repeated himself after his first attempt at saying something had been swallowed by a clap of thunder. He was driving slow, careful circles around the whole group in an attempt not to get stuck in the first place.

Arty strained her engine but her narrow tracks weren't cooperating at all, which left her with trying to force her hull forward by sheer willpower as the only option. A side glance at Awol told her that he wasn't off any better either.  
"At this rate we'll never make it to Ruinberg before nightfall…" she sighed with an uneasy glance at the horizon but got no response from the Wespe, who seemed to be focused entirely on driving on.  
It seemed to her like the world was ending, and she couldn't remember when it had rained this hard the last time. She was sure however that she hadn't been exposed to the forces of nature like this back then. At least the two SPGs could still somewhat move, despite slowly and cautiously. The rest of the team didn't have that much luck.

"No, we are wide out in the open!" Eject growled and continued his fruitless attempts at freeing the King Tiger. "If we stay here and someone finds us we're dead!"  
"Well, unless you can pull a fleet of towboats out of your exhaust I don't think we'll be going _anywhere!_" Fox yelled at the T29, which in turn caused the other heavy to drop the towing cable at once.  
"How about you pull yourself out on your own?" he hissed back.

Only a few meters away, Eohelm looked down with subdued resignation. He watched the currents of water that most likely stemmed from a nearby overflowing river. The name of said river escaped him, but it didn't matter either way. They had ended up in the worst place at the worst time. He raised his gaze again and gave a distant tree line a worried look, but the rain made it impossible to tell if there was movement there. A rainbow-colored shimmering portion of the current to his left caught his attention, and he felt cold shivers as he traced it back to Nordic.

The Hellcat had half sunken into some sort of ditch, and neither Sky – who had been pulling him the whole time – nor the helping Leichttraktor seemed to be able to do anything about it.

Eject and Fox had started an acrimonious debate, pushing the blame for their situation back and forth, and Sky's enraged attempt to direct their attention towards their injured team mate went completely unnoticed as Rex joined the argument as well. It seemed like all the repressed stress and tension from the latest battle was resurfacing just then. Again, at the worst possible time.

He was still debating whether or not it would do anything good if he tried to join the debate when the sudden booming sound of a cannon being fired made everyone fall silent.


	33. Bad Omens

No one said a word anymore as all cannons turned to the sound of the noise. Half of them were expecting to see someone dead or at least severely hurt, but as their looks fell on Sky, they saw that she had simply fired into the air to finally get everyone's attention. It was easy to tell that she was furious, judging by the glares that she gave to everyone.

"What the hell?! Are you all fucking serious right now?! Are you gonna start a second Himmelsdorf or will you fucking stop arguing already? Your team mate is kicking the bucket over here and all you do is argue! _What kind of team are you?!_"

Looks were shared, some of them begrudgingly agreeing, others outright guilty. Sky shot another barrage of angry glances. No one said anything, but ahead of them, another voice piped up.

"Sky!"

The Pershing turned her turret to where she had heard the voice of her brother calling her. He and Arty were standing at the foot of the hills ahead of them and waving.

"The ground is firmer up here!" Awol said, "If we can all make it up here, we'll be able to go on!"

Sky nodded and turned towards the rest of the team again. Her voice grew softer as she went on.  
"You heard him! Come on guys, I know that we can get out of this if we all work together and help each other."

"That's what we were trying to do" Eject replied flatly.  
"I mean more like…making a chain or something. So we can all pull at once."  
Eject tilted his cannon and nodded eventually. "It's worth a try, I guess" he agreed, and the others followed suit.

"So who of you isn't stuck yet?" Sky went on.

Eohelm, Pepper, Noob, and Eject raised their cannons.

Sky looked around to see where the two tank destroyers had disappeared to. If they had used the chance to bolt...She found them as she looked at the hill. They had already managed to get further up there somehow and were looking down at the other tanks; the Ferdinand seeming almost sheepishly gleeful while the Jagdpanther had a sneer to spare for them. It was quite clear that they didn't feel a lot of sympathy for their captors' trouble. Sky couldn't believe that they had obviously taken the time to release the one-tracked TD only so they could both comfortably sit up there and watch the spectacle.

"What about you?" the Pershing shouted at them, "How about you make yourself useful too?"  
The tank destroyers looked at each other, and the Ferdinand shrugged.  
"First of all, everyone who is stuck needs to stop moving. You'll only dig yourself in further" he said as he slowly and carefully descended a little to help.

A tedious forty minutes later, all of them had managed to make it further up the hills. It was still raining heavily, but it had become a little less severe so at least it didn't feel like the clouds were trying to drown them anymore. Rex shook the mud off his turret. "I'm glad dhis is ohver" he grumbled.  
"We still have a long climb ahead of us! If you're not careful you could still get stuck again. Or worse, you could slip and tip over" Eohelm said as he drove past the VK to scout ahead. He didn't miss the AMX at all, but couldn't help but think that right then he would have been incredibly helpful. The hills were covered in rocks and patches of stony ground that was slippery as hell. It was difficult to keep his tracks from losing traction, making the steep climb even more difficult for a forty ton tank. The medium's engine certainly wasn't happy.

He had noticed a concerning clacking noise somewhere in his engine compartment, and got reminded of a rather terrifying incident he had witnessed recently – in which a (now former) team mate had suddenly died after the battle had already been over. They had deduced that he had taken a hit to the engine, but it hadn't blown up or anything of the sort. Instead, judging by the bent piece of metal that they had found next to the wreck and that had looked like it could have been part of his transmission, the shell must have knocked an internal part loose; it eventually must have come off. With the forces and momentum involved in the tank's inner workings, it had basically been turned into a projectile, shooting the engine compartment into pieces.

An ugly sight, and not even a seldom one. The Centurion sincerely hoped that he wasn't going to suffer a similar fate.

A Wespe, a Leichttraktor, and a Sturmpanzer had already decided to spend their time with other things than worrying themselves sick about their travel.  
"That was a stork!" Arty said cheerfully, her cannon following the large black-and-white bird flying above them.  
"Okay, okay, my turn!" Awol said and looked up.  
"What bird is that one?" Arty asked him, pointing at a black one with a white chest and wing tips.  
Awol looked at it for a moment. "Hmm. A magpie, I think" he said thoughtfully.  
The other SPG nodded. "I think so too." They both looked at Noob.  
"Your turn" Arty grinned.

"Alright…" the Leichttraktor replied and stared upwards intently. He couldn't look as far up as the other two, but he still was doing really well in this game.  
It was Awol's turn to pick a bird for the light tank to guess; his cannon moved about as he searched the sky for another bird. It was surprisingly easy – for some reason a lot of birds were flying at the moment.  
"Another magpie…" Awol mumbled, watching the bird fly by. "What about those?" He pointed at a whole flock of plain colored birds that was approaching them. There were some more colorful ones among them, but the exact colors were hard to make out, thanks to the distance and the dark sky.  
"That's unfair!" Noob said with a pout. "It could be everything! I bet you don't even know either."  
"Maybe sparrows…" Arty mused, but before they could arrive at a decision, the flock had already flown past them.

Instead of continuing, Awol started frowning. "Isn't it weird that so many birds are flying? I thought they don't like rain" he said. Another flock followed the first one, and then another small one.  
Arty raised her cannon thoughtfully.  
"I don't know…do they?" she asked. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember if she had ever seen birds fly around during thunderstorms. Frankly, she didn't really pay much attention to this sort of thing. She noticed something else, though.  
"They're also all flying in the same direction" she said, earning two uneasy glances from her fellow low tiers.

Dwelling on his thoughts, Eohelm hadn't even noticed that Pepper had suddenly appeared beside him. He only became aware of the Leopard's presence when he actually started talking to him.

"Are you sure that we're still going in the right direction?" Pepper asked with a worried look at his maps. Eohelm looked back at the other tanks. The two mediums were a bit ahead of them, and he wanted to make sure that they weren't in hearing distance when they discussed such potentially upsetting things. Not after the almost-escalation earlier. He turned towards the other medium again.  
"Well, if we're lucky we're just taking a small detour. My hope is that once we reach the top of these hills, we'll be able to oversee the area and find our way again."  
Pepper nodded, but it was obvious that he was having a bad feeling about it. He spoke again after remaining quiet for a moment.  
"I also picked up some radio transmissions earlier. From another nearby team, I guess. They didn't mention anything that could imply that they're aware that we're here though," he said with a frown. "Just complaining about the weather."

An utterly unfamiliar noise made both of them raise their gaze at once.  
"What-"  
From behind the hilltops, a pale brown and white mass came rolling towards them. Only at a second glance they could make out separate shapes – dozens of roes, fleeing down the hills at a neck-break speed; stumbling over obstacles, sliding and skidding down the rocky hillside, running into and over each other, the panicked bleating and the trampling of countless hooves almost deafening.  
Pepper and Eohelm hit the brakes hard, stunned by the wholly unexpected sight. The Centurion was the first one to regain his composure, and he turned his turret around, shouting "Watch out!" at the rest of the team. They had already noticed the animals as well and while some of them braced themselves for inevitable collisions, others scrambled to get out of the way of the herd's path.  
The Leopard turned his cannon away as well as quickly as possible. He didn't want to find out how it felt to have one or even multiple deer crash into it.

It was a matter of seconds until the herd reached them. Loud metallic impacts could be heard, and someone cursed, but it was over almost as quickly as it had begun.

Eohelm cautiously peeked past his turret cheeks and turned back around after making sure that the stampede was over. A lone fawn limped past them, trying to follow the rest of the herd. As the noise of the deer started to fade, the near silence that followed was unnerving. What could have possibly made those animals panic so much? If he was honest to himself, the Centurion wasn't sure if he wanted to know. He shared a quick glance with Pepper.  
"The other team's chatting like crazy now. They must have seen it too. Something's going on up there" the Leopard gasped.  
Eohelm turned around and rushed back down to the rest of the team, and Pepper followed at once.


End file.
